March 31, 2013
Cyprus has been a member state of the European Union since 2004
The head of Cyprus’s Orthodox Christian Church Archbishop Chrysostom II has called on the Chairman of the country’s Central Bank Panikos Dimitriadis and Finance Minister Mihailis Sarris to resign.
The archbishop accuses them of agreeing to the tough measures aimed at stabilizing the Cyprian economy which the EU and the IMF are imposing upon Cyprus.
On Saturday, it was announced that people who have accounts for the value of more than € 100,000 in the Bank of Cyprus will get stocks in exchange for 37.5% of their accounts. 22% will probably also be converted into stocks. The remaining 40% will be temporarily “frozen”.
Cyprus’s president sees way out of crisis Cyprus’s President Nicos Anastasiades has called the meeting of the European Group on March 16, where the decision to write off a part of Cyrus’s deposits was taken, “dramatic”. “I sat at this meeting and I felt like standing up and leaving,” Mr. Anastasiades said in an interview with the Cyprian newspaper Phileleftheros. “However, at present, the situation in Cyprus is under control. We are planning to implement a package of measures for normalizing the country’s economy within 3 to 6 months.”
The President is sure that this package of measures, which includes 12 points, will help to stabilize the country’s economy and even make it speedily develop. In particular, the package includes attracting foreign investments and measures of help to the most economically vulnerable groups of population.
Mr. Anastasiades says that Cyprus will not reject from the euro. Cyprian MP calls for economic independence from EU Cyprus has no other way out of the crisis than to free itself from the conditions that the “three” of its creditors are imposing upon it, the head of Cyprus’s parliament Yiannakis Omirou believes.
On Saturday, Cyprus’s Central Bank announced about a package of measures for reorganization of the country’s leading credit organizations. This may cause holders of bank accounts – both individuals and business companies – lose up to 60% of their assets.
The country’s second largest People’s Bank may close. For Cyprus, this may mean a sharp increase of recession, increase of unemployment and impoverishment of the population, Mr. Omirou believes. He says that Cyprus may have a prosperous economy only if it ceases to be a part of the pan-European economic mechanism.
Source: EurasiaReview (from Voice of Russia)
