The trillion dollar question: Will Greece exit the euro?

Page last updated at 02:46 GMT, Friday, May 18, 2012 - 07:46 EST

CNN:

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The once-taboo topic of Greece's exit from the common currency is now being openly discussed. Two years of pushing cash into the country have barely kept it afloat and the collapse of political talks this week injected a new urgency into the situation.

The potential for a run on the banks increased with the admission by the country's president Karolos Papoulias that up to €800 million ($900 million), was pulled out of the banks Monday. It is a tiny slice of total deposits but a trend, Papoulias noted, that could create "fear that could develop into panic."

Greece, which is facing its fifth year of recession, will go to a second election June 17 after its May 6 voting left no single party with more than 20% support and negotiations to create a unity government failed. An interim government has now been sworn in.

An unplanned exit from the eurozone could cost up to $1 trillion, according to Doug McWilliams, of the Centre for Economics and Business Research. McWilliams noted: "The end of the euro in its current form is a certainty. A currency with the name euro may survive but even if it does it will be radically transformed."

Negotiations between Greece and its lenders might seem a game of chicken, and analysts remains skeptical the end-game is near. But the odds are increasing -- gaming house Ladbrokes even stopped taking bets on a Greek exit from the eurozone -- despite the legal, financial and political difficulties. CNN explains how it could happen.

Read the whole story: CNN