British urged to take different forms of payment to Cyprus
The British government has reissued its travel advice for Cyprus, urging its nationals traveling to the island to take different forms of payment.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Travel advice notes, “Cypriot Government is implementing measures to protect its banking sector. You should check with your bank for further information”.
It adds, “We advise those travelling to Cyprus to take different forms of payment with you to ensure you have access to adequate funds (such as pounds, euros, credit/debit cards)”.
It also urges “British nationals receiving pensions payments in Cyprus can contact the International Pension Centre by phone, textphone or email: Phone: +44 191 21 87777, Textphone: +44 191 21 87280, email: [email protected]”.
The FCO website notes that “this advice has been reviewed and reissued with amendments to the Travel Summary (new banking sector protection measures being introduced). The overall level of the advice has not changed; there are no travel restrictions in place in this travel advice for Cyprus”.
Eurozone lenders on Saturday agreed on a rescue package worth at least 10 billion euro but in exchange for the rescue fund, Cyprus agreed to levy a one time tax of 9.9 percent on deposits of over 100,000 euros held in the country’s banks. A tax of 6.7 percent will be applied to anything under 100,000 euros.
The Cypriot financial assistance package is estimated at 17.5 billion, of which 10 billion will be provided by the ESM and the IMF. The one-off tax levy is estimated to yield €5.8 billion, while the remaining amount will emerge from a privatization programme, a capital gains tax increase and a 2.5% increase in the Cypriot corporate tax, currently at 10%.
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