[danielf]

Originally Posted by martyh

my understanding was that it was the government that needed the bailout from the EU ,the EU said yes you can have one but only if there is a levy on deposits held in Cypriot banks .What has been mentioned on news reports is that the cypriot banks where/are awash with money from Russian billionairs who used the banks to launder their money so i don't think the banks where skint or where would the levy on deposits come from

Hmm, fair point on the cash. However, the point of the levy (as I understand it) was to stop the deficit exceeding 100% of GDP. With a full bailout it would have topped 140%. I'm not sure if Europe insisted on the levy per se. Europe did require Cyprus to find 5 billion Euros.