GREECE’S Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday sacrificed his finance minister in a gesture aimed at placating eurozone creditors, which must now decide whether to loan more money to the debt-wracked country or prepare for a “Grexit.”

    A day after the Greeks said a resounding “No” to further austerity measures in return for bailout funds in a crunch referendum, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he was stepping down immediately and at Tsipras’ request.

    The flamboyant minister, who had openly irritated his European counterparts, said on his blog announcing his resignation that “I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.”

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to meet with French leader Francois Hollande in Paris amid a flurry of other meetings to size up the implications of the vote, a victory for Greece’s radical left-wing Tsipras, who insisted it did not mean a “rupture” with Europe.

    Eurozone leaders were also due to hold an emergency summit today, and several of them had described the vote as an in-out decision on Greece’s euro membership.

    With capital controls shuttering banks and rationing euros from ATMs, Greece urgently needs a cash injection from the European Central Bank (ECB) to prevent its economy grinding to a halt. Failing that, it could be forced to print IOUs or return to the drachma — effectively heralding a Greece exit from the euro, or Grexit.

    Varoufakis’ departure fueled hopes that the creditors — the ECB, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — could be persuaded to return to negotiations.

    French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said it was now up to the Greek Government to make new proposals.

    European leaders had reacted with dismay to the figures released by the Greek interior ministry early yesterday showing the final tally in the referendum at 61.31 percent “No” and 38.69 percent “Yes,” with turnout at 62.5 percent.(SD-Agencies)