Cyprus capital controls for a few weeks, up to 40% on deposits

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Finance Minister Michael Sarris said on Tuesday that capital controls introduced in Cyprus after a 10 bln euro bailout package to prevent big outflows of cash from the island would probably last for "a matter of weeks."

"I think we are talking a matter of weeks. That would be my sense," Sarris told BBC radio.

He said he was confident that outflows would be more controlled as progress was made on implementing an international bailout deal for Cyprus.

Sarris added that investors holding more than 100,000 euros in Cypriot banks could lose about 40% of their deposits as part of the rescue plan that will see savers contributing in a “bail in” in exchange for equity stake.

"It could be in that neighbourhood but I do not want to anticipate it," Sarris told BBC radio, adding the exact figure was yet to be decided. "But what I have seen suggests a number in that neighbourhood."

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