Cyprus savings tax 'will be voted down'

The Cyprus finance ministry has suggested that savers holding less than 20,000 euros (£17,000) could be exempt from a bank levy which has caused much alarm.

Plans were changed in response to public outrage that ordinary savers would be forced to pay a levy of 6.75%, but MPs may still reject amended proposals.

The controversial tax is a condition for Cyprus to get a 10bn-euro loan from the EU and IMF, to rescue its banks.

MP Pambos Papageorgiou is an opposition politician who is on the financial and budgetary affairs committee.

He told the BBC that any move to tax savers was unprecedented and would be voted down in parliament.