Cyprus: will not quit the euro
The president of Cyprus says his island nation will not abandon the European single currency.
Nicos Anastasiades said Friday at a civil servants conference in the capital, Nicosia, that Cyprus has no intention of quitting the euro.
The president’s comments come a day after Cyprus banks opened for the first time after an almost two-week shutdown while the government negotiated a $13 billion bailout from European neighbors, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to prevent bankruptcy.
As part of the bailout, Cypriot bank depositors, for the first time in Europe’s handling of its debt crisis, have been forced to bear some of the cost of the rescue plan intended to keep the country solvent.
Cyprus has agreed to confiscate 40 percent or more from the biggest, uninsured accounts above $130,000 to help pay for the rescue.
The deal also forces the restructure of the Bank of Cyprus, the island’s largest lender. The bank will absorb some of the assets of Cyprus’ second-largest bank, Cyprus Popular, also known as Laiki, which is being shut down.
Source: VOANews.com
(Cyprus president Nicos Anastasiades, left, talks to German chancellor Angela Merkel at a summit in January. Photo: European People’s Party via flickr.com)
