Any new drachma would sink like a stone at first

 If a ‘No’ in Sunday’s referendum eventually takes Greece out of Europe’s single currency, any ‘new drachma’ or temporary payment unit could be worth as little as a fifth of the euro now in circulation.

In the absence of a flow of new euros from the European Central Bank after a ‘Grexit’, Athens’ existing stock of hard currency is not expected to be enough to cover the government’s obligations.

Currency experts say that would probably force the state to print some form of interim IOUs or ‘scrip’ to pay wages and pensions and the purchasing power of this on the street or overseas would be a direct proxy for a new currency. Crude estimates of the sort of devaluation the Greek economy would need to regain international competitiveness are at least 25-30 per cent, according to studies by several bank and research firms published over the past six months.

But the likely chaotic financial aftermath and public and private sector defaults would almost guarantee that extending to as much as 80 per cent, experts say. Public sector debt is already estimated at three times Greece’s annual GDP.