Looming Greek 'crunch' threatens fresh global crisis, warns Osborne 

The Greek crisis is casting a shadow over this year's Spring IMF meeting, said George Osborne

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, in Washington
7:00PM BST 17 Apr 2015

Chancellor says a miscalculation from either side could plunge Europe back into full-blown turmoil

George Osborne has warned that Greece's battle with Europe's creditor powers is nearing a "crunch" point and threatens to detonate a fresh global crisis if mishandled over the next days and weeks. 

The Chancellor said the escalating crisis in Greece is now the biggest threat to the world economy and has become a haunting theme for finance ministers and central bankers meeting at the International Monetary Fund in Washington this week. 

"The mood is notably more gloomy than at the last international gathering, and it is now clear to me that a misstep or a miscalculation by either side could easily return European economies to the kind of perilous situation we saw three or four years ago," he said. 

"The crunch appears to be coming in May, and it would be a mistake to think that the UK would be immune. Of course, it would be the very worst moment for there to be any confusion about the direction of British of economic policy, or for a change of direction. We need resilience for moments like this," he said.