Cyprus President: No Plans to Exit Eurozone

World | March 29, 2013, Friday // 12:18
Bulgaria: Cyprus President: No Plans to Exit Eurozone

Cyprus's president has vehemently denied speculations the country plans to leave the eurozone in the wake of the unprecedented situation it was forced into.

"We have no intention of leaving the euro," President Nicos Anastasiades said at meeting of civil servants in Nicosia on Friday.

"In no way will we experiment with the future of our country".

He said the financial situation was "contained" following the 10bn euro bailout deal with the EU and IMF.

Still Anastasiades accused other members of the eurozone of making "unprecedented demands that forced Cyprus to become an experiment".

"We have averted the risk of bankruptcy," he said. "The situation, despite the tragedy of it all, is contained."

Banks in Cyprus reopened on Thursday after a two-week closure sparked by discussions on an EU-IMF bailout and amid tough capital curbs.

Branches were replenished with cash overnight and police were deployed amid fears of large queues.

They began to open at noon local time (10:00 GMT) and closed at 18:00 (16:00 GMT).

Capital controls, imposed to prevent worried savers and businesses rushing to withdraw all their money, include limiting cash withdrawals to EUR 300 (USD 383) per day per person and limiting payments abroad to EUR 5,000.

No checks can be cashed, although they can be paid in, and people leaving the country can only take up to EUR 1,000, or the equivalent in foreign currency, with them in cash.

Banks in Cyprus have been shut since March 16 to prevent people draining their accounts as politicians scrambled to come up with a plan to raise enough funds for the country to qualify for EUR 10 B (USD 12.9 B) in bailout loans for its stricken banking sector.

On Thursday, it was made clear that the Cypriot Stock Exchange (CSE) has extended its almost two-week shutdown. The bourse will remain shut during Easter, from March 29 to April 1, because the Target2 system of interbank payments throughout the European Union would not be working.

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