Published time: March 17, 2013 21:29 Edited time: March 18, 2013 00:45
Cyprus is currently deciding whether to raise the anti-crisis tax on savings larger than €100,000 to 12.5%, while reducing the levy on smaller amounts to 3 per cent, a source told Reuters.
The Cypriot government has been discussing with its European creditors the idea of reducing the levy on deposits smaller than €100,000 to 3 per cent, Reuters reported citing an anonymous source who is close to talks.
To counterbalance the measure, the government proposed to increase the tax on large sums to 12.5 per cent from the originally proposed 9.9, the source said.
The last minute discussions are allegedly aimed at appeasing ordinary Cypriots who are about to share a major part of the anti-crisis burden imposed on Cyprus by the European Central Bank.
Cyprus became the fifth country to ask for immediate aid from the Eurozone. But in a drastic twist from the previous cases, the European finance ministers demanded Cyprus seize a significant portion of all deposits in the country’s banks in order to secure a €10 billion bailout.
The original agreement suggested 9.9 and 6.7 per cent levies on deposits above and below the €100,000 threshold respectively.
Although in general terms the bargain was settled with the European lenders late on Friday, the Cypriot government still has to come to an agreement on the exact details and pass a law that will allow such a move.
In the meantime all banks in Cyprus have frozen the amounts required to pay the tax on their clients’ deposits and stopped all transactions, including electronic, before going to a long holiday weekend.
Crisis vote postponed
A meeting of the Cyprus parliament had been scheduled for Sunday but was postponed for at least a day in order to try and broker a deal between the parties, political sources are saying. The vote on the measure is now expected on Monday.
At the same time authorities have extended for another day Monday’s bank holiday, so the levy is unlikely to come in force on Tuesday morning as was initially planned.
The parliament remains split over the initiative. The opposition parties are against the move leaving the government without a majority in the upcoming vote.
President Nicos Anastasiades with his right-of-center party DISY and the coalition Democratic Party (DIKO) control only 28 seats – exactly the half of the parliament – while for a decisive vote at least 29 votes are needed.
At the same time analysts suggest that several lawmakers from DIKO could vote against the measure despite party’s support for the president.
Compensation promises
On Sunday, the Cypriot president addressed the nation claiming that this new tough decision was the only available measure to avoid default and subsequent separation from the EU.
“Those who hold on to their deposits for two years, will get back half of their deposit in bonds,” Nicos Anastasiades said, trying to avert an imminent wave of deposit withdrawals after the holidays.
The president promised that the bonds will be secured by the revenues in the gas field and promised that pension and provident funds will remain untouched by this one-time measure.
The plan, which is unprecedented in Europe, has already sparked panic on Cyprus as people queued up at ATM machines trying to rescue their savings. The wave of withdrawals is expected to resume on Wednesday while the markets worldwide are preparing for a deep plunge on Monday.
