“Superhuman” efforts are being made to reopen banks in Cyprus on Thursday, the central bank governor said, as protests and uncertainty over the island’s top lender showed a huge bailout has not ended its troubles. The comment, made by central bank governor Panicos Demetriades on Tuesday, came as hundreds of angry Bank of Cyprus workers demonstrated outside his office and thousands of students rallied against the EU-IMF rescue package.Banks remained shut for an 11th day after markets reacted badly to comments by Eurogroup chief of finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who suggested actions in Cyprus could act as a template for future bailouts.
The decision to remain closed, taken late Monday, left homes and businesses on the Mediterranean island scrambling for cash — and there were growing doubts about whether banks would even open their doors on Thursday, as promised. Demetriades said the delay in reopening was to fully install capital controls to prevent depositors from draining their accounts, and also to strengthen number one lender the Bank of Cyprus. “A superhuman effort is being made for the banks to open on Thursday,” he said.
President Nicos Anastasiades secured the 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout in Brussels early Monday, just hours before Cyprus faced bankruptcy and a possible exit from the euro. Dijsselbloem’s comments Monday had led markets to speculate that the bailout was a model for other struggling members. He later released a statement on Twitter which said Cyprus was a “specific” case.
