01:04Russia: Putin says Cyprus bank tax is unproffessional - spokesman
Russia: Putin calls Cyprus bank tax unprofessional
Russian president Vladimir Putin slammed the one-time bailout charge on private bank accounts proposed by the government of Cyprus this week, calling the plan 'non-professional'. The Cypriot parliament postponed a vote on the measure on Monday, delaying it until March 19.
Dmitry Peskov, Press Attache for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said: "President Putin said that Russia has always insisted on a transparent economic environment, and Russia has always been inviting Cyprus for cooperation on disclosing the recipients of bank accounts to make everything as transparent as possible. At the same time, the possible decision of implementing a single tax for bank accounts was called non-professional by the Russian president. He definitely acknowledged that he is not in favour of such a decision."
Russian businesses and individuals have taken advantage of Cyprus' low taxes and less-onerous banking regulations to store vast sums of money in the island nation's institutions. Much of that money finds its way back into investments in Russia, making Cyprus on paper the largest foreign investor in the country. According to credit rating agency Moody's, Russian deposits amount to $19bn (€14.7bn) from corporate clients and up to $32bn (€24.7bn) from banks.
01:04Russia: Putin calls Cyprus bank tax unprofessional
Russian president Vladimir Putin slammed the one-time bailout charge on private bank accounts proposed by the government of Cyprus this week, calling the plan 'non-professional'. The Cypriot parliament postponed a vote on the measure on Monday, delaying it until March 19.
Dmitry Peskov, Press Attache for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said: "President Putin said that Russia has always insisted on a transparent economic environment, and Russia has always been inviting Cyprus for cooperation on disclosing the recipients of bank accounts to make everything as transparent as possible. At the same time, the possible decision of implementing a single tax for bank accounts was called non-professional by the Russian president. He definitely acknowledged that he is not in favour of such a decision."
Russian businesses and individuals have taken advantage of Cyprus' low taxes and less-onerous banking regulations to store vast sums of money in the island nation's institutions. Much of that money finds its way back into investments in Russia, making Cyprus on paper the largest foreign investor in the country. According to credit rating agency Moody's, Russian deposits amount to $19bn (€14.7bn) from corporate clients and up to $32bn (€24.7bn) from banks.