Cyprus

Expats in Cyprus concerned about banking crisis

Almost 60,000 expats living in Cyprus are still worried about their savings even although the government has been defeated in its attempt to impose a one off tax on savings bank accounts. The proposal to impose a 6.75% tax on all savings between €20,000 and €100,000 and 9.9% on all savings over €100,000 was rejected by MPs last night.

However, expats are facing the prospect that the Mediterranean island’s banks system is set to collapse and they feel that they have been failed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund which came up with the tax as a condition for further bailout funds. It is estimated that over 59,000 expats have funds amounting to £170 million in Cypriot bank accounts. They cannot currently access their money as banks have remained shut since the crisis emerged at the weekend. [click to continue…]

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