YEREVAN, March 18. / ARKA/. European Central Bank board member Joerg Asmussen said Monday that Cyprus can adjust its bailout as long as it does not reduce its financial contributions, banki,ru reported citing France Press.
The bailout has caused outrage in Cyprus and raised fears of bank runs there and in other struggling euro zone countries because it calls for a tax on savings accounts, the first time depositors have been hit in Europe’s debt crisis. Mr. Asmussen suggested that Cyprus was not bound to the one-off levy on their savings.
It is “in the hands of the Cypriot government and parliament” to figure out the exact structure of the country’s own contribution to an international bailout of its weakened banking system,” he said.
But any change must ensure that Cyprus’ “financial contribution of 5.8 billion euros remains’ unchanged. Mr. Asmussen was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference on banking union in Berlin. -0-
