Luxembourg/Brussels, 14/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Saturday 12 September, in the light of continual progress by Cyprus in implementing its economic structural adjustment plan, Eurogroup decided to give the go-ahead to the payment of the next batch of aid to Cyprus, to the tune of €500 million, to be paid in October.
The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) still needs to endorse the payment. The IMF is expected to pay Cyprus €125 million. ESM director general Klaus Regling said that the implementation of the Cyprus programme was a “success story.” On behalf of the ECB, Benoît Coeuré stressed the importance of dealing with banks' non-performing loans. In a statement, the ECB stressed “the importance of effective implementation of the recently foreclosure framework, together with other measures adopted recently to speed up the reduction of arrears.” (Elodie Lamer)