Reported controls12 in place for the reopening of the banks in Cyprus on Thursday 28 March 2013 include:
  • withdrawals of cash to be limited to €300 per day
  • cashing of cheques to be prohibited
  • overseas payments and/or transfers by debit and/or credit cards to be limited to €5,000 per month13 (transfers above this amount will need Central bank permission)
  • euro amounts permitted to be taken out of the country limited to €1000
  • businesses permitted to carry out transactions up to €5,000 euros on a daily basis
  • transactions between €5,000 and €200,000 euros to be reviewed by a specially established committee
  • transactions over €200,000 euros will need to be approved on an individual basis by the specially established committee
  • savers with fixed-term deposit accounts will not be permitted to withdraw cash before maturity

An English translation of the legislation in place, together with a list of exemptions, can be found on the Central Bank of Cyprus website: The Enforcement of Restrictive Measures on Transactions in case of Emergency Law of 2013.

A statement from the Ministry of Finance in Cyprus states that the measures will be reviewed by the Central bank of Cyprus and the Cypriot government on a daily basis.

Footnotes

12 Sources: BBC news, the Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Central Bank of Cyprus website

13 Payments to be unrestricted in Cyprus

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