Central Bank Governor says Cyprus less affected by financial crisis

Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus Athanasios Orphanides assured on Wednesday that the global financial crisis has affected Cyprus to a lesser extent compared to other EU countries, and that the banking sector ''continues to be in a very good situation.''

Speaking after a meeting with President of the Republic Demetris Christofias, Orphanides said the banking sector's robustness had to do with the fact that ''we continuously acknowledge how important our accession to the Eurozone is, which has kept us safe from the convulsions we would have had if we had kept our own currency.''

He added that a second reason was ''the supervision of our banking sector over the past years, which in the past has been described as firm.''

''We now see that this was exactly what it needed in order for the banks to be in the very good situation they are today, at a time when banks in many countries are affected and are suffering convulsions from the crisis,'' he pointed out.