Cyprus has become the fifth euro zone country to seek emergency funding from Brussels, and it may require a bailout amount worth up to half the size of its economy. We’re not talking the kind of numbers that Spain and Greece have been after, but when half of your economy is looking a bit worse for wear, it’s not ideal.

Speaking with Lindsay Williams about the latest euro zone development earlier, he said it “was like a pack of cards”, and that Cyprus was just the next in line to fall victim to the ongoing financial crisis in Europe.

The Mediterranean island has been unsuccessful in its attempts to secure loans from either China or Russia, and as a result, applied to the EU for aid.

Cyprus has a banking sector heavily exposed to debt-crippled Greece, and yesterday it was formally applying for relief from the European Union’s rescue funds.

At the moment, Cyprus needs to expunge a 1,8 billion euro – or 10 per cent of its GDP – “regulatory capital shortfall” in its second largest lender by the end of June.

Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly told Reuters that potential aid could be more comprehensive to cover fiscal requirements, and Cypriot newspapers reported that the aid required could be anything between six and 10 billion euros.

Reuters reported earlier:

Either way, it would be a massive bill for Cyprus, whose 17,3 billion euro economy is the third smallest in the euro zone after Malta and Estonia.

“We will continue efforts to secure a bilateral loan, which can be used accordingly,” government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said.

Cyprus has been shut out of international capital markets for more than a year, with yields on its 10-year benchmark bond over 16 per cent on Tuesday. Sidestepping EU aid earlier, it secured a 2,5 billion euro loan from Russia in late 2011.

This latest amount is expected to cover 2012’s needs, but not 2013’s.

In 2013, Cyprus needs 2,25 billion euros in refinancing, including a euro medium term note (EMTN) redemption.

Reuters continued:

Cypriot president, Demetris Christofias, and his administration have already been slammed by their opposition for dragging their feet in both applying to the EU and taking measures earlier to shore up the island’s flagging economy, was to brief politicians later on Tuesday.

Christofias has been accused by the opposition of being out of touch with reality and ignoring warning signs that the economy was in trouble, suggestions the government strongly denies.

Later today, the finance ministers of Germany, France, Italy and Spain will meet in Paris as the euro zone’s top four members try again to resolve their differences ahead of a European Union summit later in the week.

They also met last Friday in Rome, and during that meeting, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, disagreed on whether to offer weak euro states more financing guarantees.

Reuters earlier published this interesting infographic of the situation, as it stands:

[Source: Reuters]