Cyprus capital controls: €300,000 cap removed, exports up to €1 mln

The government has issued its 22nd decree, gradually lifting credit controls imposed after the financial meltdown in March in order to prevent a run on local banks and abolishing some measures that have hampered business transactions on the island.
The Finance Ministry said it had scrapped a requirement for supporting documentation on domestic business transactions exceeding 300,000 euros and raised the threshold for businesses making transactions abroad to 1 mln euros for each deal from 500,000.
Finance Minister Haris Georgiades said he expects all currency controls related to domestic transactions to be lifted by spring 2014.
Under the current controls, travellers abroad cannot take more than 3,000 euros out of the country, while the limit of money individuals can transfer from one bank account to another for payments now set at 15,000 euros.
Other restrictions such as a 300 euro daily withdrawal limit for individuals, a ban on the cashing of cheques, a ban on breaking fixed-time deposits and the opening of an account at another bank remain in place.