Earlier this week Cyprus imposed an automatic, one-off tax of up to 10% on savings on the island as a condition of a EUR10 billion bank bailout from the EU and IMF.

The central bank has declared bank holidays until Thursday in a bid to prevent people rushing to withdraw their money. Instead, people are making their way to cash machines which are still handing out money and being restocked, for now.

In a statement, the MoD says: "An RAF flight left for Cyprus this afternoon with EUR1M on board as a contingency measure to provide military personnel and their families with emergency loans in the event that cash machines and debit cards stop working completely."

UK chancellor George Osborne has already promised that the 3500 British troops on Cyprus will have any money taken from their accounts compensated.

Meanwhile, the Cyprus government is poised to change the terms of the levy, according to the BBC. Initially, all savers were set for a 6.75% tax, with those over EUR100,000 charged at 9.9%. However, this could be tweaked to exempt anyone with under EUR20,000 in savings.