Cyprus races to avoid bailout

Cyprus is racing to meet an end of June deadline to pump €1.8 billion into Cyprus Popular Bank — which is heavily exposed to Greek bonds — but will struggle to attract investors, as long as the outcome of the Greek election is unclear.

The island nation’s only other option is finding the money (about 10% of its economy) itself, raising the odds it will become the fourth eurozone country to be bailed out after Ireland, Portugal and Greece.

It is an increasingly familiar example of how quickly problems at just one bank can hurt government finances — even if, in this case, the sector was profitable and well regulated, and had successfully raised capital in the past.