President of Cyprus Criticizes Terms of Bank Bailout

Deal agreed to in March resulted in businesses losing capital

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has urged eurozone leaders to help his country's biggest bank and sharply criticised the bailout agreed in March.

The "haircut" imposed on large deposits under the 10bn-euro (£8.6bn) bailout led to businesses losing large amounts of the capital they kept in banks.

His comments came in a letter sent last week but leaked on Wednesday.

Losses were imposed on big deposits in Bank of Cyprus (BoC) and Laiki Bank. BoC is now in trouble, the letter said.

"I urge you to support a long-term solution to Bank of Cyprus' thin liquidity position," Mr Anastasiades said.