Greece close to financial abyss as tax revenues plunge

Greek Prime minister Alexis Tsipras is pictures, as Greece moves closer to the financial abyss as citizens stop paying their taxes, hopeful they will be let off by the new Left-wing government (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)

Bruno Waterfield and Richard Spencer
©Telegraph Media Group Limited

Greece is stepping nearer the financial abyss as citizens stop paying their taxes, hopeful they will be let off by the new Left-wing government, according to a senior minister.

Georges Stathakis, the new economy minister, said tax revenues were plunging, having fallen 7pc in December and by an amount estimated to be similar in January. He was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying the country would run out of money "within weeks" if the trend continued.