Cyprus Agrees 20% Tax On Bank Deposits

Politicians in Cyprus have reportedly agreed a new one-off levy on savers in order to secure a European bailout.

The measures, yet to be confirmed by the country's President, include a 20% tax on savers with deposits over 100,000 euros at the country's largest bank, the Bank of Cyprus.

A 4% tax on deposits over 100,000 euros would be levied at other banks, a senior Cypriot official told Reuters.

Cyprus has to raise 5.8bn euros by Monday or face being kicked out of the single currency.

Eurozone finance ministers are due to meet on Sunday evening to see if the numbers Cyprus has agreed with its international lenders add up.

Bank workers shout during a protest outside the presidential palace

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades tweeted: "We are undertaking great efforts. I hope we have a solution soon."

The conservative leader, barely a month into the job and wrestling with Cyprus's worst crisis since a 1974 invasion by Turkish forces split the island in two, was due to lead a delegation to Brussels, also on Sunday, to meet heads of the "troika" - the EU, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund - in a sign a deal might be near.

Government officials held talks throughout Saturday at the finance ministry with troika lenders. Angry demonstrators outside chanted "resign, resign!"

Its outsized banking sector crippled by exposure to crisis-hit Greece, Cyprus needs to raise the 5.8bn euros in exchange for a 10bn euro EU lifeline to keep the country's economy afloat.

But in a vote on Tuesday, Cyprus's 56-seat parliament rejected a levy on depositors, big and small, as "bank robbery", and the country's finance minister Michael Sarris spent three fruitless days in Moscow trying to win help from Russia, whose citizens have billions of euros at stake in Cypriot banks.

Rebuffed by the Kremlin, Mr Sarris said earlier on Saturday that talks with the troika were centred on a possibly levy of up to 25% on savings over and above 100,000 euros at failing Bank of Cyprus.

However, the situation remains fluid and other options, including a "voluntary haircut" in exchange for equity that would not require parliamentary approval, are said to still be on the table.

Ordinary Cypriots were outraged by the original proposal, and have been besieging cash machines ever since bank doors were closed last weekend on the orders of the government to avert a massive flight of capital.

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