 "Cyprus lawmakers work on economy-saving plan")
Cypriot authorities were today trying to cobble together a plan they hope will convince international lenders to provide the money the country needs to avoid bankruptcy within days.
As well as trying to forge an overall financing package, lawmakers were meeting to decide the fate of the country's second largest lender Laiki which was hardest hit from its exposure to bad Greek debt.
The bank's restructuring is part of an alternative plan aimed at raising up to 5.8 billion euros ($7.5 billion) to secure a larger rescue package of another 10 billion euros from the other 16 countries that use the euro currency and the International Monetary Fund. A new package is necessary after Cyprus' parliament rejected a plan earlier this week to grab up to 10% of bank deposits.
Worried Laiki employees gathered near parliament for a second day after the governor of the country's central bank announced that authorities would look to safeguard the bank's viable parts and isolate its toxic assets. The hope behind the plan is to staunch any possible contagion effects to the country's other lenders.
"The bank is finished, we'll lose our jobs and I'm worried about my kids," Laiki employee Nikos Tsiangos behind barricades and a cordon of police that have blocked the way to Parliament. "They've brought us to the brink, the Europeans wanted to destroy our economy and they've done it."
Apart from the bank's restructuring, lawmakers were looking at a number of other bills including one setting up an "Investment Solidarity Fund" and restricting banking transactions in times of crisis.
Together, they will make up at least part of the alternative plan Cyprus hopes will secure it the bailout money.
A vote on the bills was scheduled for today morning, but that appears to have been pushed back as lawmakers continue discussions.
As well as trying to forge an overall financing package, lawmakers were meeting to decide the fate of the country's second largest lender Laiki which was hardest hit from its exposure to bad Greek debt.
The bank's restructuring is part of an alternative plan aimed at raising up to 5.8 billion euros ($7.5 billion) to secure a larger rescue package of another 10 billion euros from the other 16 countries that use the euro currency and the International Monetary Fund. A new package is necessary after Cyprus' parliament rejected a plan earlier this week to grab up to 10% of bank deposits.
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The country needs to have the plan in place by Monday as the European Central Bank has said it will cut off emergency support to the banks. That could trigger their collapse and leave the Cypriot economy reeling. Many in the markets think that would mean the country would have to leave the euro with potentially damaging repercussions across the 17-country eurozone.
Worried Laiki employees gathered near parliament for a second day after the governor of the country's central bank announced that authorities would look to safeguard the bank's viable parts and isolate its toxic assets. The hope behind the plan is to staunch any possible contagion effects to the country's other lenders.
"The bank is finished, we'll lose our jobs and I'm worried about my kids," Laiki employee Nikos Tsiangos behind barricades and a cordon of police that have blocked the way to Parliament. "They've brought us to the brink, the Europeans wanted to destroy our economy and they've done it."
Apart from the bank's restructuring, lawmakers were looking at a number of other bills including one setting up an "Investment Solidarity Fund" and restricting banking transactions in times of crisis.
Together, they will make up at least part of the alternative plan Cyprus hopes will secure it the bailout money.
A vote on the bills was scheduled for today morning, but that appears to have been pushed back as lawmakers continue discussions.