Fears grow over Greece exit after ECB says Europe is 'equipped' for fallout

The eurozone is no longer at risk of chain reaction downfall if Greece defaults on its debts.

Fears of a Greek exit from the EU have grown after the head of the European Central Bank said the currency bloc has "buffers" in place to avoid a chain reaction meltdown were the country to be forced out.

The statements came from the ECB after a series of meetings with big players from the international financial community.

They say their "buffers" would be sufficient for keeping the eurozone afloat were the country to crash out by defaulting on their debts to the International Monetary Fund.

Speaking at the IMF's spring meetings, ECB President Mario Draghi made it clear the eurozone is no longer vulnerable to the chain-reaction experienced during earlier phases of the debt crisis.

He said: "Now we are better equipped than we were in 2012, 2011, 2010".

But while the buffers are in place, they are not necessarily designed for the possibility of a Greek exit.

Draghi said a default would still send the global economy into "uncharted waters" because the buffers were "designed for different circumstances".

Meanwhile, the IMF, one of the country's main moneylenders, has effectively ruled out allowing the country to delay repaying the €950 million (£722m) which is due next month.

At the start of the talks, taking place in Washington, the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, said that by delaying the payments, Greece would be making their situation worse.

Since then, Lagarde says she has had constructive talks with the Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, and said the overall goal in Greece was to stabilize the finances and assure economic recovery.

The ECB's Draghi repeated this sentiment, saying that despite the "buffers" in place, it would better for the eurozone if Greece recovered.

The meetings came as it was revealed that Greece's government is running short on cash to the point that it was entertaining borrowing from its own public services in order to pay its civil service workers.

Despite needing to pay just under €1bn to the IMF at the end of the month, an anonymous financial official told Reuters the Greek government had recently borrowed €600 million from a fund belonging to services like the Athens subway, and the management of EU subsidies to farmers, all just to pay their own workers.

The Greek Finance Ministry denied these claims.

Additional reporting by agencies