GREECE was thrown a temporary financial lifeline yesterday to cope with a growing run on its banks.

A meeting of European finance ministers on Thursday about the austerity cuts its creditors say Greece must make in order to to get more loans ended in acrimony.

The European Central Bank decided yesterday to provide more emergency credit for Greece’s banks to help them cope with the situation.

The ECB has been steadily increasing the support it allows Greek banks to draw on — it last did so just two days ago and is unlikely to turn off that tap until it thinks Greece is definitely going bust, and certainly not before an emergency summit of the eurozone’s 19 leaders on Monday.

But time is running out — Greece has to pay €1.6 billion to the International Monetary Fund on June 30.

It cannot afford that without a deal that would unlock €7.2bn in bailout loans.

Several European governments are now openly saying they are getting ready for the possibility.

In the streets of Athens there were no visible signs of distress or larger than usual lines at banks or supermarkets.

Officials, however, have signalled an increase in withdrawals and transfers, which can also be made electronically.

An EU official claimed that Greeks had taken about €2bn out of their accounts in the last three days.

“Money is going out of the Greek banks faster than at any time before,” said the official, who insisted on anonymity.

However, if no deal emerges with creditors soon, the ECB would be under intense pressure to stop pumping money into the banking system.

Relations between the sides have soured in recent days, with each side blaming each other in increasingly strident language.

Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg following the signing of a gas deal between the two countries, said that Monday’s planned summit was “a positive development on the road to agreement,” claiming that those “who invest in crisis and horror scenarios will be proven wrong.”