| Author (Corporate) | Eurogroup |
|---|---|
| Series Title | News |
| Series Details | 18.03.13 |
| Publication Date | 18/03/2013 |
| Content Type | News |
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The Eurogroup held a teleconference on the 18 March 2013 to take stock of the situation in Cyprus. Eurozone finance ministers defended a planned levy on savings in Cypriot banks as a key pre-requisite for a bailout package. However, they also said that ordinary savers should be protected from the tax. Cyprus' parliament rejected the controversial levy on bank deposits on the 19 March 2013. Cyprus’s finance minister arrived in Russia on the evening of the 19 March 2013 night to try to wrest vital economic assistance from the Kremlin. The 11th-hour attempt to tap funds from Russia as an alternative to the deposit levy stunned leaders in the EU Institutions, who said they were taken aback by the resistance of Cypriot lawmakers to shifting the tax’s burden exclusively on to deposits over €100,000 – many of which are held by wealthy Russians. The Cypriot rejection of the levy and appeal to Moscow was seen to dramatically raise the stakes in the island’s financial crisis. If the Cypriot authorities could not raise extra funds in a way that satisfied the eurozone, the island faced the risk of full banking meltdown and possible exit from the eurozone. Germany warned Cyprus that the European Central Bank (ECB) would pull the plug on its two largest banks (Bank of Cyprus and Laiki) in the absence of a bailout programme and said the terms of the rescue would not change. |
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| Source Link | http://www.eurozone.europa.eu/newsroom/news/2013/03/peg-statement-cyprus-18-03-13/ |
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| Subject Categories | Economic and Financial Affairs |
| Countries / Regions | Cyprus |
