paphos-mcfc
Well-Known Member
6.7% took out of my savings account. My missus and the babies account have had money taken too. Bank holiday here so it's no as if anything can be done about it. I fucking hate the EU. Cunts.
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People in Cyprus have reacted with shock to news of a one-off levy of up to 10% on savings as part of a 10bn-euro (£8.7bn; $13bn) bailout agreed in Brussels.
Savers could be seen queuing at cash machines amid resentment at the charge.
The deal reached with euro partners and the IMF marks a radical departure from previous international aid packages.
Lenders are said to be gambling that the risk of a bigger banking crisis elsewhere in the eurozone has receded.
While Cyprus may be one of the eurozone's tiniest economies - its third-smallest - there could be serious repercussions for other financially over-stretched economies, such as those of Spain and Italy, Robert Peston writes.
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Bailout levy
Savers with under 100,000 euros deposited must pay 6.75%
Those with more than 100,000 in their accounts must pay 9.9%
The levy is a one-off measure
The point of the levy is as a caution to lenders to banks that they should take care where they place their funds, and avoid banks that overstretch themselves - as Cypriot banks did, he adds.
Cyprus is the fifth country after Greece, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal and Spain to turn to the eurozone for financial help during the region's debt crisis.
The country has been in financial difficulties since the collapse of the Greek economy, where Cypriot banks had huge investments.
'Robbery'
People in Cyprus with less than 100,000 euros in their accounts will have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75%, Eurozone officials said.
Those with greater sums will lose 9.9%.
Cypriot bank officials quoted by AP news agency said depositors could access all of their money except the amount set by the levy.
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“Start Quote
This is robbery and we must get the EU to stop this”
Alan, a British expatriate saver in Cyprus Speaking to BBC News
Cyprus bailout - Your stories
The levy itself will 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 open in Cyprus on Saturday, closed after people started queuing to withdraw their money.
"This is robbery and we must get the EU to stop this," Alan, a British expatriate saver in Cyprus, told BBC News.
"We retire and bring our savings to a bank in Cyprus and they can just take our money away without permission and then say we have shares in a bankrupt bank."
Maria Zembyla, from Nicosia, said the levy would make a "big dent" in her family's savings and "erode the investor confidence".
"Russians that currently keep the economy afloat will leave the country along with their money," she added.
According to Reuters news agency, almost half of the depositors in Cyprus are believed to be non-resident Russians.
Russian money
There has also been speculation that Russia could help finance the bailout by extending a 2.5bn-euro loan already made to Cyprus.
Cyprus Finance Minister Michael Sarris will travel to Moscow for meetings on Monday, reports say.
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“Start Quote
My understanding is that the Russian government is ready to make a contribution”
Olli Rehn Vice-President of the European Commission
"My understanding is that the Russian government is ready to make a contribution with an extension of the loan and a reduction of the interest rate," said the EU's top economic official, Olli Rehn.
European regulators and politicians are convinced that a vast amount of cash in Cypriot banks belongs to Russian money launderers, our business editor writes.
Few German politicians would vote for a Cyprus rescue that simultaneously rescued these launderers so the only way to make the bailout palatable to the German parliament was to tax the launderers, too, he says.
Mr Sarris said after Friday's late-night talks in Brussels. "I wish I was not the minister to do this.
"Much more money could have been lost in a bankruptcy of the banking system or indeed of the country."