Cyprus has made "significant progress" in talks with the EU and IMF aimed at securing a bailout, Cypriot Finance Minister Michael Sarris has said.
Mr Sarris was also quoted as saying Cyprus was considering a 25% levy on deposits of more than 100,000 euros (£85,000) in its biggest bank.
Cyprus has to raise 5.8bn euros (£4.9bn; $7.5bn) before Monday to secure a 10bn-euro loan.
Parliament has approved restructuring the island's banks, among other moves.
But it rejected a levy earlier this week, before EU pressure brought the proposal back to the table. The rejected proposal included a levy on smaller deposits.
Mr Sarris was speaking after talks with the "troika" of the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
"Significant progress has been made toward an agreement at least with the troika which will report to the Eurogroup," he said.
"Two or three issues need further work."
He said experts were now discussing these issues, and the talks would resume later on Saturday afternoon with the aim of finalising the package.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and party leaders were considering a trip to Brussels depending on the outcome of the meeting.
The Eurogroup, of 17 eurozone finance ministers, will meet to discuss the Cyprus bailout at 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Sunday, its president Jeroen Dijsselbloem tweeted.
The European Central Bank has given Cyprus until Monday to raise the bailout money.
If Cyprus fails, the ECB said it would cut off funds to the banks, meaning they would collapse, possibly pushing the country out of the eurozone.
He says Germany is essentially writing the rules for the eurozone, and the message coming from Brussels and Berlin is that the money has to come from the banking sector and investors who have benefited from high interest rates over recent years.
Germany has voiced opposition to another measure approved by the Cypriot parliament on Friday - nationalising some pensions to pay into a solidarity fund along with other assets.
Germany has also made it clear that it will no longer accept an economy within the eurozone that is dominated by its status as an economic tax haven, our correspondent adds.
Leading Cypriot bankers have urged parliament to accept a levy, with small savers
exempted. /BBC
No comments:
Post a Comment