Euro zone ministers to discuss Cyprus later on Thursday

Euro zone finance ministers will discuss an international bailout for Cyprus in a teleconference at 2:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday and will issue statement afterwards, their chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Twitter.

Cyprus needs 17 billion euros in emergency financing to recapitalize its banks, service debt and fund government expenses, but the euro zone has agreed to lend it only 10 billion euros, saying the island would not be able to repay more.

Nicosia needs to raise the rest on its own and one of the controversial ideas backed by euro zone ministers is a one-off levy on bank deposits - something the Cypriot parliament rejected earlier this week.

The European Central Bank said on Thursday that it will stop providing emergency liquidity to Cypriot banks from the start of next week, setting a deadline for reaching an agreement on the bailout between the euro zone and Cyprus.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski)