05 MARCH 2013: SPECIAL REPORT: CYPRUS STARTS BAILOUT TALKS
DAILY MARKET REVIEWS
by Arne Treholt Vice-President of Business Development and Investments
Michailis Sarris, the newly appointed Minister of finance in President Nikos Anastasiades’ government, met yesterday with his Western European colleagues in Brussels in an effort to hammer out a bailout agreement with international lenders. Cyprus needs about Euro 17 billion in aid of which 10 billion is needed to shore up the banking sector. That is fraction of what has been pledged to Greece. For Cyprus with a gross domestic product (GDP) on 18 billion it represents a colossal sum.
Speaking prior to the Ministerial meeting which is expected to focus on options to address the debt crisis in Cyprus and over renewed concerns over the future of the Euro following the Parliamentary elections in Italy. In the elections one week ago Italy rejected in large numbers reforms and austerity measures demanded by the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Mario Monti, a former EU-commissioner which for the last year has headed a caretaker government, obtained only 10 % of the electoral votes.
Cyprus is following in the footsteps of Greece, Ireland and Portugal as the fourth country inside the Euro zone to ask for a bailout. Cyprus faces a bond repayment of Euro 1,4 billion in June. The European Union wants consequently that Nicosia reach a deal with the so-called troika of international lenders (EU-Commission, ECB and IMF) by end of March.
Troika-representatives have negotiated with the previous AKEL, a communist-led government for the last months. These talks stalled at disagreements on terms including the privatization of government assets. The Christofias-government sought aid from Russia before finally accepting a European bailout. Christofias succeeded two years ago in obtaining a Euro 4 Billion loan from Russia on favorable terms. There are now negotiations on prolonging this loan from 5 to 10 years.
Mr. Sarris stated that he did think it is necessary to make major changes to a draft bail-out agreement reached with the previous government. Sarris warned against taking an overly aggressive approach to combating money-laundering which he feared could only worsen the fragile economy of the island.
Worried by the threats for a “hair-cut” on investors deposits billions of Euros have over the last months left Cyprus for safer banks and locations as Latvia. Sarris stressed that these outflows already had been very damaging to the Cyprus banking system and worked against the common objective to stabilize the banking system. Sarris who served as a Minister of Finance between 2005 and 2008, is a former World Bank economist.
Cyprus has since the breakthrough of the Soviet Union been one of the preferred “safe havens” for Russian flight capital which have contributed heavily to Cyprus prosperity and made it possible for the three banks, Bank of Cyprus, Laiki and Hellenic bank, to take big exposures in Greek treasury bills and unsecured loans to Greek individuals. Totally the loans given to Greece over the last years are estimated to Euro 27 billion.
Prominent European politicians and especially Germans have lately stressed that Cyprus with its low taxes (10 5 flat taxation on company net profit) and lax banking regulation, have made the island a hub for money laundering.
This has been strongly rejected by the previous government. The new government also rejects these accusations. In a token that Cypriots want to maintain some level of banking secrecy to lure investors and financial services (the FX industry in Cyprus has boomed over the last years), Mr. Sarris said that there was great skepticism in Cyprus about money-laundering investigations. That would mean that anybody who has any money in the banking system has to have their name analysed and reported when they have nothing to hide.
Copyright: MAYZUS Investment Company Ltd