Cyprus said on
Saturday it would tax big savers at its largest bank in a dramatic
U-turn as it raced to satisfy European partners and seal an 11th-hour
bailout deal to avert financial collapse.
President Nicos Anastasiades, barely a month
in the job and wrestling with Cyprus's worst crisis since a 1974
invasion by Turkish forces split the island in two, was due to lead a
delegation to Brussels, also on Sunday, to meet heads of the EU, the
European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, in a sign a deal
might be near.
"Hopefully by
tomorrow in Brussels we will have the agreement of our partners," Averof
Neophytou, deputy leader of the ruling Democratic Rally party, told
reporters.
The tottering banks hold 68 billion euros in
deposits, including 38 billion in accounts of more than 100,000 euros -
enormous sums for an island of 1.1 million people which could never
sustain such a big financial system on its own.
Read more: Cyprus weighs big bank levy; bailout goes down to wire | Reuters
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