deputy finance minister dimitras mardas set alarm bells ringing yesterday when he declared the country had been ` running on empty ' since february .
in a sign of the bleak climate engulfing the country , greece 's biggest tax office had its electricity cut off yesterday after the finance ministry failed to pay its power bills .
at a summit in brussels today , greece faces the deeply damaging prospect of having to snub its own employees to make a € 200m payment to the international monetary fund .