President Nicos Anastasiades was trying to compel policy makers in Brussels to soften demands for a tax to be assessed on Cypriot bank deposits, saying European Union leaders used “blackmail” to get him to agree to those conditions early Saturday in order to receive a bailout package worth 10 billion euros, or $13 billion.
Cyprus, whose banking system is verging on collapse, is now the fifth nation in the 17-member euro union to seek financial assistance since the crisis broke out three years ago.
As anger in this country swelled against the measure, Mr. Anastasiades delayed an emergency vote parliamentary vote on the bailout plan until Tuesday, the second step in as many days. Faced with a lack of support from lawmakers, the vote could be delayed until as late as Friday.
The government also said it would keep Cypriot banks shuttered until at least Friday, well beyond a bank holiday that was supposed to end Monday, a move aimed at staving off a possible bank run.
For the first time since the onset of the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and the bailouts of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, ordinary depositors — including those with insured accounts — were being called on to bear part of the cost, €5.8 billion.
The previous bailouts have been financed by taxpayers, and the new direction raised fears that depositors in Spain or Italy, two countries that have struggled economically of late, might also take flight.
A crowd of protesters gathered in front of the presidential palace, shouting angrily at Mr. Anastasiades and inveighing against Germany and European leaders as he entered the building to meet with his cabinet. “Merkel, U stole our life savings,” read one banner tied to a bus stop. “EU, who is next, Spain or Italy?” read another.
The group of finance ministers from the 17 countries using the euro were on standby Monday for a possible conference call later in the day to assess the outcome of discussions among party leaders in Cyprus. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the president of the group, had declined Saturday to rule out taxes on depositors in countries beyond Cyprus, although he said such a measure was not being actively considered.
A key question for the finance ministers was expected to be whether any revised formula for the tax on deposits could still deliver the 5.8 billion euros agreed to in the bailout deal. The plan, a so-called bail-in, also includes junior bondholders in Cypriot banks, and that component of the deal still was expected to bring in about 1.4 billion euros.
Russia’s support of the plan was also essential because of the large amount of Russian funds held by Cypriot banks. But President Vladimir Putin on Monday described the bailout plan as “unfair, unprofessional and dangerous,” the Interfax news agency quoted a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, as saying.
Foreign deposits made up 26.8 billion euros in deposits out of a total of 64.8 billion as of December, 15.4 billion euros of which were deposits from Russians in Cyprus, according to the Regional Banking Association of Russia.
As financial markets absorbed the implications of the news, finger-pointing quickly ensued. In Berlin, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, sought to deflect criticism for the damage to depositors, saying the “levy on deposits below 100,000 euros was not the creation of the German government,” according to Reuters. “If one reached another solution, we would not have the slightest problem.”
But Mr. Anastasiades denied that he refused the proposal to exempt deposits under 100,000 euros from the levy, according to the government spokesman, Christos Stylianides.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/business/global/asian-markets-drop-on-latest-euro-concerns.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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