BRUSSELS, March 18 (Reuters) - Cyprus' parliament has postponed until Tuesday a vote on introducing a one-off levy on bank deposits that aims to raise 5.8 billion euros for the country's bailout, but which could hit smaller savers, a euro zone official said on Monday.
"The vote will take place on Tuesday to allow time for more negotiations," the official told Reuters.
The vote had originally been planned for Monday.
Meanwhile a source at parliament said the government was suggesting the first 20,000 euros of the bailout be tax exempt, remaining deposits taxed at 6.7 pct up to 100,000 and 9.9 pct exceeding that.
The German government said it was open to changing a bailout deal for Cyprus that foresees small savers in the Mediterranean island's banks taking a hit.
"In order to achieve debt sustainability, a contribution from Cyprus is necessary, a contribution from the banking sector, from depositors and owners," Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
"How the country arrives at this contribution, how it divides it up, was and is up to the Cypriot government," he added. "As I believe the finance minister said last night on television, Germany could have imagined a different solution, a different staggering. But it was not our decision."