Broadcast is over.
At 1 p.m. Moscow time on March 21, RIA Novosti presents a Moscow-Brussels video link-up: “The Cyprus Bank Situation: Expert Analysis.”
On March 16, Cypriot authorities, succumbing to pressure from a trio of creditors – the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission – agreed to back the introduction of a bank deposit tax in exchange for international financial aid. The parliament, however, voted down the deposit tax bill on the evening of March 19. On one hand, this appeased angry depositors. On the other, leading world analysts responded with discouraging predictions that the banks would be unable to reopen because of insolvency.
Cyprus is now in danger of a collapse in its banking system and of leaving the Eurozone, since there are no sources of additional funding for the government. Could a controlled crisis, nerve-racking for half of Europe, be better than an uncontrolled bankruptcy? Why was it Cyprus that had to face these tough terms? What are the risks for bank depositors in Cyprus, including Russians and Russian companies? What consequences would the special tax have entailed? What consequences will the refusal to introduce the tax have for the local financial system? How can a financial collapse in Cyprus and the Eurozone as a whole be avoided? These and other questions will be discussed by experts.
In Moscow:
- Vasily SOLODKOV, director, Banking Institute, National Research University Higher School of Economics (NRU HSE)
- Leonid GRIGORYEV, professor; head, World Economy Department, NRU HSE; chief adviser, Analytical Center of the Russian Government
- Alexander APOKIN, leading expert at the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting
In Brussels:
- Zsolt DARVAS, research fellow, Bruegel, an economics think tank
