A Cypriot official at Ministry of Finance has likened his country’s treatment by Germany and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ‘to the shooting of a pigeon with an atomic bomb', saying they had ruined a functioning economic system.
Permanent secretary of the ministry, Christos Patsalides, said the statement, as he testified on Friday in front of a government appointed judicial inquiry to investigate the circumstances that led to the country's financial meltdown.
Patsalides, who took part in the recent bailout negotiations between Cyprus and the European Union and IMF said that an “unrelenting” team of technocrats had given a severe fiscal punishment to the cash-starved island.
"With the imposition of Germany and the IMF ... they shot a pigeon with an atomic bomb," said Patsalides.
The commission asked the secretary if the bailout requirement to impose losses on depositors were within their individual rights.
Pastsalides answered: "When you are dealing with forces of occupation, they don't talk about human rights."
Many Cypriot and foreign depositors saw their savings disappear, when authorities imposed up to 60 percent one-time loss on accounts holding over 100,000 euros in two of Cyprus's banks - Popular and Bank of Cyprus.
The one-time loss was a requirement from the EU and the IMF to receive a 10-billion-euros bailout.
According to analysts the island, which had modeled itself as an offshore financial services center, is now facing a grim future, as its reputation has been hurt and its economy deep in recession.
On April 12, the eurozone approved the bailout deal and European officials have said Nicosia should receive the first bailout money in early May.
No comments:
Post a Comment