International Shia News Agency

Reuters.com/ Cyprus plans two international debt issues in 2015: finance minister

SHAFAQNA – Cyprus plans two international debt issues this year, its finance minister said on Monday, seeking a firmer footing in markets after a near meltdown in 2013.The Mediterranean island nation is preparing for two issues under its European Medium Term Note (EMTN) program, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said. Details have not yet been decided.

The European Union member state, which required a 10 billion euro ($11.9 billion) lifeline to stave off bankruptcy in March 2013, successfully tapped international markets last June with a 750 million euro issue taken under the same program.

It was the swiftest comeback of a bailed-out nation to international markets in the history of the euro debt crisis.

“Cyprus is implementing an ambitious program of economic reform and consolidation which is already delivering early and tangible results. On such sound foundations we are aiming to re-establish sustainable market access,” Georgiades told Reuters.

Cyprus required a bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund after fiscal slippage that had kept it out of international markets for months.

Georgiades said the upcoming debt issues would not substitute but complement existing financing from lenders.

The EMTN program has a ceiling of 9 billion euros.

Leave a Comment