News

ATMs a lifeline as Cyprus bailout woes continue

March 22, 2013

The European Central Bank has given Cyprus until Monday, March 25, to pull together $6 billion in earnest money needed to secure emergency liquidity aid from the EU and avert a bank collapse. Meanwhile, with banks still closed, Cypriots are pulling cash out of ATMs as fast as they can to ensure that the $6 billion doesn't come out of their accounts.

According to Friday's Cyprus Mail, rumors about a possible default sent Cypriots scrambling to ATMs for cash. ATMs at other banks were mobbed also, as word spread that gas stations and other merchants were only accepting cash payments due to the financial crisis. 

"I have been withdrawing as much money as possible since rumors began at the weekend," lawyer Kyriacos Panagos told the Cyprus Mail. "As far as I'm aware, one of our banks will be forced to close so I felt the best option would be to withdraw as much as I can."

Likewise, a young woman named Athina said she was making her second ATM run. "I feared I would lose whatever little I had left in the bank and so I came to take it out."

Business Insider reported that at Laiki bank, one man received a receipt for €700 euros ($910) — and no cash. Others couldn't conduct transactions at all, as overloaded ATM networks crashed.

The publication posted a photo gallery showing panicked Cypriots who lined up this morning at ATMs. 

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