Brussels, 15/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - In the evening of Thursday 14 January, Eurogroup encouraged the Cypriot government to take the remaining measures in order to ensure release of the final payment of the structural adjustment programme that ends on 31 March.
The head of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said the Cypriot authorities had implemented the structural adjustment programme from the start “with strong ownership” but three actions need to be carried out before the programme comes to an end.
Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici added that the actions were being carried out. Cyprus explains that “one which is ok is the unbundling of the electricity authority. The other one is the sale of loans which will be ok by next week. The big problem is the corporisation of the CYTA bill, which is pending in the parliament. That is a 50-50 chance possible to pass” in the country's parliament.
If the actions had been implemented, they would have paved the way for payment of €275 million from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), explained ESM director general Klaus Regling. If the money was paid to Cyprus, it would take total ESM payments since 2013 to €6.6 billion, out of a total budget of €9 billion. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)