Central Bank moves ahead with stability fund

2011-03-29

THE Central Bank is drafting regulation to create a financial stability fund, aiming for an initial amount of around €500 million euros through contributions from banks, its governor Athanasios Orphanides said yesterday.

“As an initial target, our aim is to build a fund of around 3.0 per cent of GDP,” Orphanides, a member of the governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB), told lawmakers in parliament.

That figure corresponds to about €500 million, he said. “Our aim is to have this fund ready by September,” Orphanides told the House Finance Committee.

Farmers crying and spilling milk

2011-03-22

GOAT farmers from across the island yesterday spilt thousands of tonnes of milk onto the roads to protest the government’s lack of action in ensuring the halloumi prototype is followed.

The farmers cut off the roads at the Rizoelia roundabout in Larnaca and the Konia roundabout in Paphos, to protest the violation of regulations for the creation of halloumi, which state that 51 per cent of the milk used should be goat’s milk.

They said only one local industry used the amounts demanded by the law, resulting in farmers being left with thousands of tonnes of excess milk.

‘Intensity’ of talks wins UN praise

2010-12-16

U.N. SPECIAL Adviser Alexander Downer broke from the standard ‘cautious optimism’ of UN officials to praise the pace and “intensity” of the talks process yesterday.

Speaking after an afternoon meeting with President Demetris Christofias following a morning meeting between the two leaders, Downer highlighted the accelerated pace of the talks since the tripartite meeting in New York last month.

The Australian diplomat expressed the view to Christofias that since November 18, when the two leaders met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York, the talks have been moving ahead “more quickly and more effectively”.

“We’ve been pleased with that and we will have to see how it goes from now on,” he said.

Our View: Cabinet’s excuse on Eurocypria hard to swallow

2010-12-16

THE GOVERNMENT has no records of the decision to approve a €35 million injection into Eurocypria earlier this year, it has transpired. There was neither written nor audio record, the House Watchdog Committee was told. The Committee is investigating how the decision to invest such a big amount of money an ailing company was taken as some deputies believe the finance minister deceived the legislature to secure its approval for the expenditure.

PASYDY defiant over public sector pay

2010-11-30

CIVIL servants defiantly warned yesterday they would not be made scapegoats, as a debate on how to shore up state finances turned increasingly bitter.

“We shall accept no reduction in salaries,” declared Glafkos Hadjipetrou, head of the blanket civil servants union PASYDY.

“If the government wishes to modify the amount of [civil servants’] contributions to the Social Security Fund, it can do so legally,” he added.

Hadjipetrou was speaking after a meeting at PASYDY headquarters of the major public sector unions, including teachers, police officers and military personnel.

The union chief complained that all the attention was focused on civil servants, whereas nothing was being done about “big business” and rampant tax evasion.

Failed airline’s dismantling due to begin next week

2010-11-26

AS THE process of dismantling Eurocypria is set to begin next week, politicians continued bickering yesterday over the how and why the charter airline was allowed to go under.

A meeting of the airline’s creditors is to take place at the Finance Ministry on Monday. Its purpose is to appoint a liquidator to settle all of Eurocypria’s outstanding dues and receivables – making official the company’s long-awaited demise.

Meanwhile Eurocypria employees were yesterday paid their November salaries, the percentage of their 13th salaries, and cashed out their provident fund.

Unions and the government are negotiating a redundancy package for the some 300 Eurocypria workers who are now out of a job.

AKEL leader lashes out at Christofias’ detractors

2010-11-26

THE LEADER of AKEL yesterday censured those who attack President Demetris Christofias, warning them that their only ‘gain’ was the Cyprus issue losing ground.

Speaking before the party’s 21st congress, Andros Kyprianou said: “Every chance is exploited to lay blame on the president.”

Kyprianou said there was a strong impression that this is happening simply because Christofias was the president.

“We have said it many times and we will repeat it: those who think they gain something from the full-frontal attack they launch against the president are fooling themselves; the only thing they ‘gain’ is the Cyprus question losing ground,” Kyprianou said.

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.