Brussels, 15/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Cyprus is poised for the arrival of the country's lenders on Wednesday 17 July.
The troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) will focus on the restructuring of the country's biggest bank, Bank of Cyprus (BoC), but will not comment on the outcome of the assessment of the bank's assets by KPMG, which are due to be published on 22 July, explains a source from the Cypriot Finance Ministry. The country's parliament recently voted through the takeover of the country's cooperative banks by the Cypriot central banks, which are expected to be the only banks to be recapitalised using the cash from the eurozone.
The president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, said on Friday that one of the main criteria for the full lifting of restrictions on the movement of capital was getting BoC out of restructuring. He said: “There is no consideration whatsoever of the possibility of exiting the eurozone or the euro because it would be the most disastrous decision that would lead to the collapse of the state”. He added: “We have responded effectively to whatever obligations have been imposed and I hope and believe that there will be no need for a second Memorandum or any other Memorandum”. This enthusiastic view is not shared by the Moody's credit rating agency, which says: “The country's sharp economic recession, which is likely to be lengthy, underpins Moody's view that the government is highly likely to miss the programme's fiscal targets. This is likely to also perpetuate a negative feedback loop for the economy. Given the importance of public services, this may also challenge future consensus on fiscal strategy”. (EL/transl.fl)