The report said the programme’s objectives were to restore financial sector stability, strengthen public finance sustainability, and implement structural reforms in order to support sustainable and long run growth.

“Under the Financial Assistance Facility Agreement signed between theESM and Cyprus, an amount of up to €9 billion is available to the country in order to finance debt redemption, fiscal deficits and the recapitalisation of the financial sector,” it said.

“In addition, the IMF contributes up to €1 billion to cover the country’s financing gap. From May 2013 until March 2014, a total of €4.6 billion was provided to Cyprus by the ESM, after ensuring compliance with prior actions and programme conditionality defined in the Memorandum of Understanding.”

According to the ESM, the recession in 2013 was severe (-5.4%), but less steep than expected at the beginning of the programme.

“The better than expected macroeconomic performance is attributable to the dynamics of private consumption and the contributions of tourism and professional business services,” it added.

It said the banking system was burdened by very high level of non-performing loans (NPL) and that despite the significant restructuring that has taken place in the banking sector, the levelof problematic loans is very high – 47.6% as of February 2014 – compared with other programme countries.

“Effective management of NPLs is critical to restore banks’ ability to finance domestic economy,” the report said. It said that overall, despite the robust programme implementation, risks remain to the stabilisation of the economy.

“The greatest challenge lies with the health of the financial sector; key policy issues are NPL management, private sector debt restructuring and ensuring that banks’ restructuring plans are fully implemented. Success in bank restructuring will contribute to depositor confidence and pave the way to lifting the restrictive measures in accordance with the agreed roadmap. On the upside, progress in negotiations on the Cyprus reunification issue would have a profound impact on the programme,” the report concludes.

Source: Cyprus Mail