People wait in the line as a woman, right, uses the ATM machine outside a cooperative bank in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday. Banks in Cyprus are open for normal business for the second day, but with strict restrictions on how much money their clients can access. — AP NICOSIA – Cyprus central bank tried to kick-start spending in the country's stagnant economy Friday by telling Cypriots that there were no limits on debit and credit card transactions made inside the country. The central bank made the announcement to clarify the capital control rules it introduced this week to prevent a run on the country's banks. The bank said that while there is a €5,000 ($6,402.50) limit on credit and debit card purchases abroad, there were no such limits on domestic transactions and money transfers. Cyprus's banks had been shut since March 16 to prevent people from draining their accounts as politicians scrambled to save the country's stricken financial sector. Fearing a savers would rush to empty their accounts once the banks reopened, the country imposed daily withdrawal limits of 300 euros ($384) for individuals and 5,000 euros for businesses — the first so-called capital controls that any country has applied in the eurozone's 14-year history. Banks had been shut in Cyprus since March 16 to prevent people from draining their accounts as politicians scrambled to save the country's stricken financial sector. A deal was needed to secure 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in loans from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. Also Friday, the central bank updated a government decree about the amount of cash a person could take from the internationally recognized Greek-speaking south to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. While Cypriots can only carry 300 euros a day, foreign nationals will be allowed to have 500 euros. Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Meanwhile, President Nicos Anastasiades vowed Friday to keep Cyprus in the eurozone but had harsh words for international lenders behind the huge bailout that saved the island from bankruptcy. His comments came as banks resumed normal trading a day after they reopened following a nearly two-week lockdown, although Cypriots still face hardship under the single currency area's first ever capital controls. Just hours later, the central bank lifted one of the restrictions imposed on financial movements, by removing the 5,000 euro ($6,400) ceiling on credit and debit card transactions within the country. The 10-billion-euro EU-IMF rescue deal imposed a levy on big bank deposits and calls for tough banking reforms, causing jitters among other eurozone strugglers who fear they could be next. Rightwinger Anastasiades, who was elected in February on the back of a promise to secure a bailout for the small eastern Mediterranean island, said the deal had saved Cyprus from “economic collapse.” — Agencies
