The comments were attributed to IMF Executive Director Paul Hilbers, visiting the island for the first time. During his stay here, Hilbers met outgoing Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides, who relayed the IMF official’s remarks. Petrides told the Cyprus News Agency that, during their meeting, Hilbers thanked him for the “important and creative cooperation between Cyprus and the IMF over the last years.”

The IMF official told Petrides that the reduction in public debt, the correction in the state of public finances and the growth rates achieved by Cyprus in recent years were not only remarkable but also surpassed the IMF’s own forecasts. “He [Hilbers] also stressed that this performance is particularly significant in a period of macroeconomic instability,” Petrides said. The minister added that he assured the IMF official “the Cypriot economy is on a trajectory of stability and has undergone structural changes.”

This trajectory would be maintained in coming years.

Back in February 2020 Cyprus paid off ahead of schedule an IMF loan that was part of a multi-billion euro financial rescue deal in 2013. Cyprus managed to repay the loan thanks to a pair of low-interest bond issues. It secured €1 billion from a 10-year bond issued at a 0.73 per cent rate. A 20-year issue raised €750 million at 1.33 per cent The bonds were seven times oversubscribed, a record for the country, Petrides had said at the time.

Source: Cyprus Mail