Troubled Cyprus sees “nothing wrong” in taking two bailouts to shore up its banks, one from Russia and one with likely tougher terms from the EU and IMF, Cypriot President Demetris Christofias said on Thursday.
“Yes, we’ve asked Russia and the EU at the same time,” said the European Union’s sole Communist leader, who this week took on the prestigious six-month EU rotating presidency just as the tiny island state embarrassingly has been forced to seek financial rescue.
“We expect a positive reply” from Russia, he said, for a loan expected to come with far more favourable conditions than rescues agreed by the EU and the International Monetary Fund for others, which come assorted with demands for economic reforms.
“Perhaps the EU terms will be harsher than the Russian republic,” Christofias said at a news conference in the Cypriot capital.
Cyprus has not said how much it needs, in particular to shore up banks badly exposed to bad debts from neighbouring Greece. Local media speculate it could need around 10 billion euros ($12.5 billion).
Much-feared troika experts from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund arrived in Cyprus on Tuesday for a mission ending Friday to assess the country’s needs.
Known to many as “the men in black” after imposing tough reforms on Greece, Ireland and Portugal in exchange for bailouts, they will return next week, a diplomatic source said.
Christofias, a Soviet-educated, Russian-speaking leader who describes himself as a longtime friend of Moscow, last year secured a low-interest 2.5-billion-euro loan to cover refinancing needs for 2012.