Government and opposition agree on austerity

16:40 THE GOVERNMENT and opposition agreed on Friday to a new economic austerity package to arrest fiscal deterioration and the island’s possible slide into seeking an EU bailout.

Party leaders and government agreed to introduce a two-year freeze in wages in the broad public sector, an additional tax on private-sector earnings and additional savings in state spending, officials said.  

Asked about the possibility of Cyprus having to seek a bailout, Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said: “I am optimistic that we will avoid it”.

Read more here: http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/kazamias-cyprus-will-solve-its-own-fiscal-problems/20111203

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.