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"We are going to squeeze the stones if we have to," said Yannis Varoufakis and made it clear that the government will prioritise debt repayment, especially to the IMF.

The question is still where the money will come from to cover these needs. According to some reports, subsidies to farmers, hospital expenditures, as well as insurance funds reserves are all in the crosshairs of the government.

€ 200 million worth of farming subsidies will change its destination

European funds for Greek farmers amount to around € 200 million. They are expected to change their recipient and be used by the state to cover its financial needs.

According to skai.gr, a decision signed by the Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy, Panagiotis Lafazanis, and the Deputy Finance Minister, Dimitris Mardas, intends to redirect European funds. According to the same decision, the funds available to the agency responsible for payments and control of public grants from the EU will have to be transferred from commercial banks to the Bank of Greece to be used for the financial needs of the state. These amounts now reportedly exceed € 200 million.

Hospitals across the country - under the knife

In the context of attempts to limit government spending, Greek hospitals will also go ‘under the knife’. A finance ministry instruction will reportedly cut 51% of their budget in March.

According to documents, published in Sunday’s To Vima, the ministries of finance and of health appealed to hospital managers to meet their March expenditures (salaries, purchase of consumables and services) by 49% of the funds they had available in February or January last year. If in January 2014 the total hospital spending amounted to € 99.74 million, in March 2015 the transfer of only € 43,353,062 has been approved, while the sum initially earmarked for them actually was € 87,726,680.

The aim is, apparently, that ministries help to extend the period during which the state will be able to plug the holes without new loans.

By virtue of spending cuts in other ministries, an attempt will be made to pool together the € 1.4 billion, which Greece has to pay to the IMF.

Kouroublis’ rebuttal

Meanwhile, P. Kouroublis, the minister of health, denied the claims and pointed out: "The funding of hospitals is covered by the funds they keep in banks and the ministry’s budget. Those hospitals, which have no money available in the banks, have received the full amount they need from the ministry. "

What will happen to insurance funds’ reserves?

The government had been planning to redirect the reserves of social insurance funds and other public institutions. The question is whether this will provide the necessary funds to the full. These reserves have been tapped into in the past as well, and there is only so much left in them.

But the decision of Mardas and Lafazanis to redirect agricultural subsidies into debt payment can clear the road for similar action in respect of insurance funds, as the Treasury obviously could do with all they still have.

The secretary general for social security, Giorgos Romanias, has argued there is no liquidity problem in the insurance funds and their reserves are sufficient.

The Ministry of Finance: there are alternative ways

At the same time, a senior representative of the ministry of finance maintained there are alternative solutions to the liquidity deficit in March, but failed to shed light on the details.

How much should Greece pay in March?

Informed sources have warned that unless prompt actions were taken by the government, there would be a serious risk of a credit event, which in turn would lead to the country’s bankruptcy.

Greece’s financial needs are estimated at about € 7 billion. Of these, about 3.2 billion are tranches to the IMF and payments on the bonds owned by foreigners. The balance of around € 3.8 billion consists of treasury bills held by government institutions and local banks.