Europe's economists react to shock Greek referendum

Just as the eurozone looks to be getting some proper medicine, Greece gets a bullet to its head. This time, the Greek government holds the trigger.

Will Greece leave the eurozone? What are its alternatives to meeting debt obligations? We spoke to the eurozone economists to find out.

'A poker game'

‘This is about a poker game between Greece and the troika. It is trying to see what it can still get.'

‘If Greece were to leave the euro zone it would just fuel speculation that others would leave too. It would take Greece back to the stone age. Without a banking system, it would also lose all other benefits from being in the European Union such as trade.’

‘We will see what happens in the next few days.  I think that the most probable will be for Greece to retract the referendum. Otherwise it just shoots itself in the foot. The national survey says 60% of Greeks would vote against the package and this would mean bankruptcy.’

Edgar Walk, chief economist, Metzler Asset Management, Frankfurt.

'Markets selling off in uncertainty'

‘Rather a shock for everybody.  It looked as though things were heading in the right direction. But this opens up the question of whether Greek can meet its debt obligations. ‘

‘Markets are selling off on the back of uncertainty. Greece could vote against the package but it wouldn’t get the money.’

‘Greece is in a dangerous situation and it could find itself very isolated. The costs for a country to leave the eurozone are huge – there would be a huge amount of wealth destruction. This doesn’t mean though that it won’t happen.’

Philip Poole, global head of macro and investment strategy, HSBC Global Asset Management, London.