The former IMF economist and Harvard economics professor Ken Rogoff says Ireland is “conspicuously vulnerable” to defaulting on its debt and applying for a rescue from the fund.

He also told Bloomberg that Greece is unlikely to be the last euro nation to need an International Monetary Fund bailout – adding that Ireland, Spain and Portugal were ‘vulnerable’.

“It’s more likely than not that we’ll need an IMF program in at least one more country in the euro area over the next two to three years” he told the financial network.

Ireland had the largest deficit in the Eurozone last year – at 14.3% of GDP – while Greece’s was 13.6%, Spain stood at 11.2% and Portugal at 9.4%.