Cyprus MPs pass first parts of bailout as clock ticks
- Published: 22 Mar 2013 at 01.49
- Online news: World
The Cyprus parliament finally gave its approval late Friday to the first three of eight measures hammered out by the government in a desperate bid to rescue an EU bailout by a Monday deadline.
An employee of Cyprus Laiki (Popular) Bank reacts as he takes part in a protest outside the parliament in Nicosia on March 22, 2013. Cyprus was reconsidering a tax on bank deposits in "hard negotiations" with a troika of lenders after Russia spurned its plea for an economic lifeline in its race to stave off bankruptcy.
But with the clock ticking down to a crunch Sunday meeting with Eurozone finance ministers, more contentious issues remained to be debated, including a tax of up to 15 percent on bank deposits of 100,000 euros ($129,000) and more.
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