© Getty A woman walks past a family begging on a street in Athens.
Greek citizens fear the ramifications of a return to the country's previous currency, the drachma, if the radical left-wing party and strong election contender SYRIZA wins this weekend.
Bankers said daily withdrawals from the major banks were hitting โฌ500-โฌ800 million ($631.8 million-$1.01 billion), Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, retailers say consumers are stocking up on non-perishable foods like pasta and canned goods.
Latest polls showed the conservative New Democracy party, which supports a โฌ130 billion international bailout, is running neck-and-neck with the leftist SYRIZA party.
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras is pledging to tear up the bailout deal, saying that the austerity conditions attached to the money are so catastrophic for the country they must be rejected.
If the country renounces its bailout terms, Greece's international partners could stop providing the rescue loans, which would lead it to default and force it out of the eurozone.
Reports overnight said that Greece only had about โฌ2 billion euros ($2.52 billion) left in its coffers, which would only last until July 20.
Greece's finance minister refused to comment but the country's labour minister said that Greece should have enough cash to pay pensions at least for July.
If Greece walked away from the euro, the drachma's value against other currencies would plunge along with the earnings of Greek workers.
Cost of living would spike on the back of rises in interest rates and import prices.
Comment: Much of the rhetoric regarding a possible 'Grexit' seems to be targeted towards scaring the Greek population into voting in politicians who will sacrifice Greece to the beurocratic Brussels technocrats and the corrupt ponzi banking system. The human impact on the general Greek population is deteriorating rapidly.
The effect of Sunday's election results is spooking the markets and unprecidented action is underway:From Oanda