(Vatican Radio) Cyprus' finance minister says he's optimistic that international creditors
will confirm that the country is sticking to the terms of its financial rescue when
they complete their first assessment. Haris Georgiades said that Cyprus would faithfully
implement the terms of the bailout.
"The Government has worked intensively
during the past few weeks. I am optimistic that we will have a good outcome through
the evaluation process”, he said during a press conference.
He said that the
government aims to slash spending by 11 percent by next year, but won't impose new
taxes. Officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and International
Monetary Fund began their assessment early Wednesday in Nicosia. They however, have
made clear that their stay will be extended in "case they are not satisfied by what
they see and hear".
Georgiades said the focus will be on quickly restoring
the decimated banking sector back to health in order to get the tanking economy moving
again. In his statements, Georgiades separated the adjustment program into three pillars,
namely the structural changes, the public finances and the financial sector, which
he described as the most critical.
The Cypriot economy is only worth about
18bn euros and accounts for less than 0.2% of the eurozone total. Several analysts
now think the Cypriot economy may shrink by more than 10% this year alone. Separately,
EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has called for the "troika" of the European
Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to
be dissolved.
"The time of the troika is over," Reding said in a text of the
main messages she gave at a citizens' dialogue in Heidelberg in south-western Germany.
Listen
to the report by correspondent Nathan Morley: