Cypriots hit with extraordinary one-off tax on savings.
Cypriots hit with extraordinary one-off tax on savings.
I was amazed at this development at the weekend and ordinary Cypriots reacted with shock that turned to panic after a 10% one-off levy on savings was forced on them as part of an extraordinary 10bn euro (£8.7bn) bailout agreed in EU HQ in Brussels.
Folks rushed to banks and queued at cash machines that refused to release cash as resentment quickly set in. The savers, half of whom are thought to be non-resident Russians, will raise almost €6bn thanks to a deal reached by European partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is the first time a bailout has included such a measure and 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 move in the Eurozone’s third smallest economy could have repercussions for financially overstretched bigger economies such as Spain and Italy.
Latest news on this story from UK Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/18/cyprus-bailout-markets
DOG Sharon 
Heard about this today on the street in the usual totally skewed sort of way. But really? Governments and banks stuff it up and it gets taken from peoples’ savings because they need those when the bloody state won’t look after anyone? Uh! I’m definitely born in the wrong generation. Ojala to have been born and died in the twentieth century.
Good to see something from you. 🙂
March 18, 2013 at 9:04 am