Cyprus Has…

Surely the Russian money laundering is an open secret?

Money-laundering usually refers to money made by illegal means; how does that relate to the large Russian depositors?

Not one single vote for the EU / IMF bail-out package in the Cypriot parliament!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21842966

Where does Cyprus go from here?

Well the financial situation in cyprus is hardly a surprise is it ?or at least it should not have been to our lords and masters the great EU :rolleyes:…of course it is mostly the EU’s fault…they were not forced to accept cyprus as a member were they ??
Surely the Russian money laundering is an open secret ??
The whole euro affair is scandalous and it is going to cost us all one hell of a lot more in the future…what price euro success ??
I do not want to see any euro country fail because I know who picks up the tab when all these wonderful schemes go titts up :rolleyes:

PS I will have a pint of what SNAFU is drinking and also borrow his rose tinted specs 😉

The reason Cyprus has been given few options:

“Why the bank levy?

When countries get an international bailout, they are often expected to raise funds themselves, by raising taxes or selling state-owned assets.

The levy on bank deposits is playing the same role. It is intended to reduce the size of the bailout and therefore the amount of new debt Cyprus has to take on. But there is almost certainly a political aspect too. In the eurozone, there are concerns about money-laundering in Cyprus and the presence of large amounts of Russian-owned money in the banks. Germany is reputed to be especially unhappy about the idea of using European taxpayers’ money to rescue them.

Experts say the decision to target ordinary savers came about because Cypriot banks have fewer private bondholders than banks in other eurozone countries. In the Greek bailout it was private bondholders who had to take a “haircut” – a slice out of their investment.”

Yes indeed and I think we might paraphrase the underlined sentence to read ” Mrs Merkel cannot afford for her voters, in an election year, to accept much more of their hard earned cash being thrown to other member basket cases – especially those with dubious fiscal controls”.

The other point is that ultimately it is “ordinary” people who are responsible for the situation.

We were all quite happy to accept the good times when credit was easy, times since shown to be based on deeply flawed engineering, thus unfortunately we should be happy to accept the bad times as well.

If we had had the gumption to understand and demand proper regulation of institutions the times would not have been as good but conversely not be as bad.

It is within the power of ordinary people to influence events and situations if they are prepared to understand the facts and take action appropriately.
Sadly few are, it is easier to obtain ones opinion from the favoured paper, website or news channel and thus easy for vested interests to manipulate “public” opinion.

The reason Cyprus has been given few options:

“Why the bank levy?

When countries get an international bailout, they are often expected to raise funds themselves, by raising taxes or selling state-owned assets.

The levy on bank deposits is playing the same role. It is intended to reduce the size of the bailout and therefore the amount of new debt Cyprus has to take on. But there is almost certainly a political aspect too. In the eurozone, there are concerns about money-laundering in Cyprus and the presence of large amounts of Russian-owned money in the banks. Germany is reputed to be especially unhappy about the idea of using European taxpayers’ money to rescue them.

Experts say the decision to target ordinary savers came about because Cypriot banks have fewer private bondholders than banks in other eurozone countries. In the Greek bailout it was private bondholders who had to take a “haircut” – a slice out of their investment.”

Edit: Forget to add the link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21817197

…the deposit levy is driven by the Cypriot government not the EU.

But the EU (and IMF) have given Cyprus very few options.

Apparently Cyprus needs €16Billion to rescue its banks, the EU and IMF are prepared to loan €10Billion if Cyprus can find the other €6Billion but Cyprus only has a GDP of about €20Billion!

If my sums are correct (they weren’t but are now) that is like asking the United Kingdom to find nearly £600Billion…..without borrowing it!

What choices does Cyprus have?

100% agree!

If Cyprus has a Govt. that runs the country – or most of it – they can print money, just like anyone else.

Sorry, John, they can’t. If they could it would make a mockery of any single currency. That’s what a single currency is and it is controlled via the ECB, the EU’s equivalent of the BoE, and that ECB is the only institution which can make the decision.

Re 81

If it is the Cypriot Govt. that has control, the “eurozone finance ministers” are wasting their expensive time and can be safely ignored !

Re 82

If Cyprus has a Govt. that runs the country – or most of it – they can print money, just like anyone else.

If I’ve just printed a barrowload of money because I want to buy some of your desirable and useful goods, that is fine for me and you because your industries are kept afloat via exports, my shops are full and my retail industry is very happy.

You can’t buy my desirable goods because you haven’t printed any money. Eventually, you think, that’s not a bad idea, so you print plenty, you buy my goods, your shops are full and your retail industry is pleased with life.

Just so long as everyone – the developed world – goes along with this ‘fiction’ as they have since the developed world left the gold standard, financial stability is maintained. The flaw, is, if someone, somewhere, breaks ranks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21842966

Cyprus considers zero tax on smaller bank deposits

Of interest:

“Late on Monday the eurozone finance ministers urged Cyprus to rethink the levy on bank deposits, which had been agreed on Saturday in Brussels.”

To highlight the point again and attempt to keep the debate factual; the deposit levy is driven by the Cypriot government not the EU.

Yes, quite correct but to continue in the same vane I believe the EU has insisted that the Cypriot Governmnent impose a levy as a condition of receiving the bail-out requested.

Quantitative easing = euphemism = printing money = inflation = devaluation – but, not if everyone has a tacit understanding to do it at more or less the same time.

Cyprus can’t apply QE because it doesn’t have a currency; the ECB could apply QE to the Euro, and hence the whole Eurozone.

How does ‘QE’ help anybody if ‘everybody’ does it ‘at the same tine’? :confused:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21842966

Cyprus considers zero tax on smaller bank deposits

Of interest:

“Late on Monday the eurozone finance ministers urged Cyprus to rethink the levy on bank deposits, which had been agreed on Saturday in Brussels.”

To highlight the point again and attempt to keep the debate factual; the deposit levy is driven by the Cypriot government not the EU.

Re 76

Quantitative easing = euphemism = printing money = inflation = devaluation – but, not if everyone has a tacit understanding to do it at more or less the same time.

I think you had better start learning Russian for when you go back Comrade.

Oh B*gger….Look at my location and you’ll see why !!!

Luckily I keep a relatively small amount of money in my accounts on the island and have done since Greece found itself in major trouble ( 2 of the larger Cypriot banks lost a lot due to the problems in Greece). Currently down in the Persian Gulf at the moment so can’t even get near a cash machine to lower the amont of forced levy I’ll have to pay – b*gger again !!!

However, I understand that share bonds in the banks will be issued to the value of cash taken from accounts – if the large offshore gas find (estimated at more than the whole country could use in more than 100 years so export opportunities there) are handled in the right way, the ecomony could be on a major upward turn in 4 or 5 years so there’s a chance that we could recoup monies lost just now. Even possible that we may gain in the long term. Time will tell.

I do feel for the folks that have retired there and have all their savings there, but there is the balancing arguement that had they kept their money in the UK, they would not have benefitted from the high interest rates of recent years in Cyprus, not to mention the lower tax regime.

Swings…roundabouts…..guess we will all have differing views on that, but the one thing that will leave a sour taste in the mouths of many is the morality of the manner in which it has been handled.

Well I could do with some advice here…

Buy gold! :diablo:

Ah yes, quantitative easing on the Cypriot Pound…..brilliant! 🙂

Oh, hang on there’s a problem somewhere…..if only I could think what it was? :rolleyes:

Seriously, I still maintain that you can’t ‘make’ money when it suits you without hurting somebody, somewhere. Who does ‘quantitative easing’ hurt? Well, my guess (like inflation caused by printing money) is that it’ll hurt savers and pensions…

…isn’t this where we came in? :confused:

Re 67

Creaking Door

Quantitative Easing – if, done in anticipation.

What an insult, that 96p wouldn’t even buy a loaf of Hovis bread.

But you could feed a starving family in Africa with it and buy them a ticket to the Cinema where they could watch a documentary on the starving and homeless of Watford.