The final vote could be postponed again, due to the much-contested forced levy on current accounts. The Parliament of Cyprus should have approved last Sunday the package of measures imposed by the EU in exchange for international aid worth 10 billion: the green light has already been postponed twice and should arrive this afternoon at 17 pm Italian time. But it is not said.
The times could get even longer, consequently prolonging the period of closure of bank branches, in order to avoid the rush of savers to ATMs and the flight of large capitals (especially Russians). However, the country's central bank has warned that the continued stalemate risks seriously damaging the island's economy.
The Institute then underlined that the draft revision of the super tax on deposits would not allow it to reach the total revenue of 5,8 billion that Brussels is asking Cyprus to collect.
The calculations were corrected on the basis of the most probable change in the levy: the aim would be to exempt deposits of less than 20 euros from the heavy tax, while the expected tax of 20% would remain on those between 100 and 6,75 euros. Above this threshold the rate would rise to 9,9%.
The original version of the intervention envisaged taxing all bank deposits up to 6,75 thousand euros at 100%, but just yesterday evening the Eurogroup had officially asked for accounts up to 100 thousand euros to be exempt. To offset the correction, the tax rate on larger assets would have been raised, potentially up to 15%.
Also according to the Cypriot central bank, the island's credit institutions risk a flight of deposits equal to 10% of the total in the first days of the reopening, currently scheduled for Thursday.
The Cyprus Stock Exchange remains closed today to "protect investors". Again, however, it seems that the real purpose is to avoid the flight of deposits, which could also occur with the rush to buy shares and bonds.
Meanwhile, the high tension continues on the markets. Although the Eurogroup let it be known that the forced withdrawal will not be necessary in other countries, at the beginning of the afternoon the stock exchanges of Milan, Frankfurt and Paris were still in the red, while London turned positive, also thanks to the positive opening of Wall Street. The Btp-Bund spread remains close to 330 basis points.
