A country lacking short-term liquidity would be loth to approach the IMF for a loan under the "stand-by arrangement", the mainstay of the IMF's crisis lending.

Short of peering at each loan and derivative, no one really knows what skeletons (if any) are lurking in Barclays’ vaults.

The company insists that it is illiquid, not insolvent, but the size of the loan suggests that its problems go beyond a short-term cash crunch.