Cyprus’ president has said that he will ask the European Union to provide more help for the crisis-hit country, which has to pay for most of its expected €23bn bailout.

Cypriot MPs are due to vote today on a raft of new measures they hope will qualify the country for a bailout package and avoid financial ruin next week. But officials in Brussels and Berlin gave no indication it would be enough.

As Cypriot politicians raced to find a new financial rescue plan ahead of a Monday deadline, tensions built in the streets of the capital. Residents withdrew what money they could from ATMs amid fears the banks could collapse.

Markets calmed down yesterday from all the excitement over whether the Cypriot economy and banks would implode as they sought an alternative source of funding having rejected the conditions for an EU/IMF bailout.

Cypriot politicians approved a package of tax increases and cost cuts in a bid to forestall further credit rating downgrades and ease concerns that the European Union member country may be forced to seek a bailout.