Mar 17, 2013

Cyprus Bailout: Parliament Postpones Debate


Cyprus's parliament has postponed an emergency session on a controversial bailout deal for the country's banks.

The debate and a presidential address were to happen on Sunday but will now take place on Monday, state media said.

The deal reached with the EU and IMF on Friday has provoked public anger because it would impose a levy on bank deposits of up to 10%.

The president has said that refusing the bailout would lead to the collapse of the country's banks.

Worried investors have been queuing outside banks to withdraw their savings from cash machines.

The 10bn-euro ($13bn; £8.6bn) deal agreed by the EU and IMF marks a radical departure from previous international aid packages.

Under its terms, people in Cyprus with less than 100,000 euros in their accounts would have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75%.

Those with sums over that threshold would pay 9.9% in tax.

Depositors will be compensated with the equivalent amount in shares in their banks.

On Saturday President Nicos Anastasiades admitted the deal was "painful" but said it was necessary to avoid a "disorderly bankruptcy".

But opposition leaders and savers - including many non-Cypriots - have expressed shock and anger at the proposal.

The deal requires the approval of parliament.

President Anastasiades's Democratic Rally party - which has 20 seats in the 56-member assembly - needs support from other factions to ratify the bailout.

The president has been meeting with members of the parliament's finance committee, his office said.

On Saturday the head of the committee, Nicholas Papadopoulos, expressed shock at the deal, saying it was "much worse than expected".

Opposition leader George Lillikas said the president - who was elected last month - had "betrayed the people's vote".

Stelios Kiliaris - an adviser to the leader of the Democratic Party, which is part of the governing coalition - said it was seeking clarification before deciding whether to back the measure.

"I share the view of the people in the street that our partners in the euro group have treated us extremely unfairly," Mr Kiliaris told the BBC.

"What happens to Italy now? What happens to Spain? What happens to other countries?"

"If this experiment fails there will be grave consequences for the whole of Europe," he added.

The deal has also caused anger within the European Parliament.

Sharon Bowles, who chairs its Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, said: "This grabbing of ordinary depositors' money is billed as a tax so as to try and circumvent the EU's deposit guarantee laws. It robs smaller investors of the protection they were promised. "

If it goes ahead, the levy will affect many non-Cypriots with bank accounts, including UK expatriates.

However, depositors in the overseas arms of Cypriot banks will not be hit. Bank of Cyprus UK and Laiki Bank UK both confirmed on their websites that there would be no impact.

Chancellor George Osborne said the UK would compensate any government employees and military personnel whose bank accounts were affected.

According to Reuters news agency, almost half of the depositors in Cyprus are believed to be non-resident Russians.

The EU decision to impose a levy on bank deposits may have been motivated by a belief that a lot of the money in Cypriot banks belongs to Russian money-launderers, BBC business editor Robert Peston says.

The levy itself would not take effect until Tuesday, following a public holiday, but action is being taken to control electronic money transfers over the weekend.

Co-operative banks, the only ones which were open in Cyprus on Saturday, closed after people started queuing to withdraw their money.

Source: BBC News  

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