Cypriot businesses are under increasing strain to keep running after financial authorities stretched the country’s bank closure into a second week in a bid to stop depositors rushing to drain their accounts.

The Cypriot government is struggling to gain parliamentary support for its levy on bank accounts.

Common supervision of European banks, possibly by the European Central Bank, would help restore confidence and protect the financial system, ECB Governing Council member Panicos Demetriades said yesterday.