Finance Minister says haircut was unavoidable

Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades has said that it was a mistake for Cyprus not to enter the support programme sooner.

Speaking in a televised interview on the Greek SKAI channel, Georgiades said the loss of deposits, “was not a choice, but was unavoidable”.

“The cash reserves when I took over the Ministry were enough for a month,” he said.

He added that the government had the silent approval of the majority of the public, and that “there were moments when Nicosia disagreed with the Troika”.

The important thing, he said, is not that Cyprus is out of the memorandum, but that Cyprus is out and economic growth has returned. He also expressed the need to maintain a steady tax system for economic recovery to continue.

Source: InCyprus