Cyprus makes EUR 18 mln saving on bond repayments

The Cypriot taxpayer will make a saving of EUR 18 mln by maturing bonds, which is possible following the recent successful euro-bond issue through which Cyprus managed to raise the record amount of EUR 1.5 bln, said Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis.
In statements after signing an additional protocol between Cyprus and Italy on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion, Stavrakis said that the government has borrowed “with a fixed interest rate of 3.84% which will be used for the payment of public debt which has a cost reaching 5.1%”.
He added that there is a ''favorable interest rate difference for the Cypriot tax payer of 1.2%, which on 1.5 bln euro, gives the Cypriot citizen a saving of 18 mln euro annually”.

Transparent auctions
Regarding the written bidding process for the allotment of the 1.5 bln euros, which took place Wednesday, Stavrakis said that the amount was deposited with five commercial banks — Bank of Cyprus, Marfin Popular Bank, Eurobank, Bank of Piraeus and Alpha Bank.
''Because we do not want to lose not even one cent of interest from this issue, we deposited the money in banks through a transparent written bidding process for a short term period until the time comes to pay off the old expensive loans”, he noted.
The Cypriot Minister said that the interest rate as well as the rating of each bank was taken into consideration.