Greece needs EU lenders' cooperation to avert a cash crunch: deputy PM

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece faces a liquidity problem and needs the cooperation of its European lenders to deal with a possible cash crunch, its deputy prime minister said on Thursday. Greece has been kept afloat since 2010 by EU/IMF bailouts totaling 240 billion euros and risks running out of cash in weeks amid a widening rift with its creditors. "We haven't received any (bailout) tranches since August 2014 but we have been meeting all of our obligations," Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis told Greek Alpha TV. "This has its limits." Asked whether Greece risked running out of cash if it does not reach a deal with its lenders, Dragasakis said: "Of course we have a liquidity problem, for the reason I mentioned. We have obligations which, in order for us to meet, we need the good cooperation of the European institutions." Dragasakis ruled out early elections or a referendum should Athens's negotiations with the euro zone fail. "There are some things that we need to keep in the back of our minds ... (however) neither elections nor a referendum are on the table at the moment," Dragasakis said, without elaborating on what the referendum might be on. (Reporting by Karolina Tagaris and Angeliki Koutantou)