Troika to return to Cyprus next week

In statements he made today in Brussels, Eurozone official said that the Troika (European Central Bank, European Commission and IMF) will be in Cyprus next week to continue negotiations on the bailout deal.

The Cyprus bailout issue will be on the agenda of the Eurogroup meeting to be held on Monday in Brussels, he added, noting however, that “it is still too early for any decisions, given that no matter how experienced the new Finance Minister is, he will not be ready”.

He said that at the end of Monday’s discussion “we will have a clearer picture of the next stages of negotiation”.

The Eurozone official believes that “the open issues” of privatization of state-owned organizations and money laundering are already known, expressing at the same time the hope that the new government will demonstrate a positive attitude towards these issues.

He also believes that the fact Cyprus is already implementing the measures included in the draft bailout deal negotiated between the troika and the previous government will facilitate the conclusion of negotiations between the troika and the new government.

Referring to the delay in reaching agreement, he said that an agreement had not been reached due to the previous government’s lack of will.

Excluded from international capital markets, Cyprus requested financial assistance from the EU bailout mechanism after its two largest banks sought state aid following massive losses of their Greek bond holdings estimated at €4.5 billion, as a result of the Greek sovereign debt haircut.