Cyprus adjustment programme to be discussed in Eurogroup meeting, says Spokesman

Cyprus economic adjustment programme will be discussed in the eurozone Finance Ministers meeting (Eurogroup) on Monday in Brussels, Government Spokesman said on Sunday.

Speaking to the press, Niκos Christodoulides said Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades and the Troika technocrats will brief the Eurogroup on the state of play of Cyprus` programme, stressing that the Cypriot programme has no relation with the Greek programme that also will be discussed in the meeting to begin on 15:00 local time in Brussels.

Cyprus is in breach of its programme targets as the Parliament suspended the implementation of a law on foreclosures a crucial prerequisite of the fifth review that took place in July 2014. The IMF postponed the disbursement of a €86 million as part of the programme`s sixth tranche amounting to €436 million.

A Troika (EC, ECB and the IMF) mission visited the island in late January for an informal review of the programme implementation but reached no conclusions.

“Given the further suspension of the effective application of the foreclosure framework, reaching staff-level agreement on the review was not possible during this visit,” the lenders said in a statement.

On Greece, Christodoulides said Athens and its lenders engaged in consultations on a technocratic level to codify their positions on the way forward. “This would assist tomorrow`s Eurogroup to have a more targeted discussion and explore the possibilities for a positive conclusion,” he added.

CNA

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