Cyprus President: More control over financial system needed

President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias has said here Friday that regulatory authorities are needed to supervise the financial system, in the face of global financial crisis.

Christofias was speaking at Larnaca International Airport prior to his departure for Brussels to attend an extraordinary EU Summit, called by EU term President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of the international summit on the financial crisis scheduled on 15 November in Washington.

The President said that during this meeting the EU Heads of State and Government ''will finalise the EU position which will be tabled in the G20 meeting''.

He added that the EU leaders will reconfirm the positions drafted in the two earlier summits. “The essence is that supervisory authorities must be created for an increased control over the financial system, he added.

The President expressed hope that all the measures taken so far will bear fruit ''because at the end of the day ordinary people will pay the price of the consequences to the real economy.''

Replying to questions on the Cypriot economy, Christofias recalled that the forecasts for Cyprus for 2008 are perhaps the best in the EU with GDP growth at 3.8% at the end of 2008.

''Next year will not be negative (in terms of GDP growth), naturally the forecast is that we will have a contraction and we are trying with measures, which we will announce soon, to deny, if possible, the projections of the European Commission for 2-2.5% GDP growth and of course to maintain full employment,'' he added.

''These are our targets. I hope that everyone appreciates that no panic should be created within the people and the market so that we will handle, in the best possible way, the consequences of this storm which is sweeping the world,'' he concluded.