CYPRUS MAIL Friday 19 Dec 2014
The International Monetary Fund said it will not release the next tranche of bailout money earmarked for Cyprus, Reuters reported today citing the IMF.
The decision came following yesterday’s parliament vote which suspended until January 30, an unpopular law passed in September to speed up foreclosure procedures angering international creditors and finance minister Harris Georgiades.
“Following today’s suspension of the existing legislation on foreclosure, critical requirements for the completion of the fifth program review are now no longer met,” the IMF said according to Reuters.
State radio CyBC reported that the IMF board which was set to meet on Dec. 18, to approve the release of the tranche decided to cancel the meeting even as “everything was prepared” to approve the disbursement as all preconditions were met.
CyBC said that IMF officials will visit Cyprus on January 27 to review Cyprus’s programme. Lawmakers suspended yesterday the implementation of the repossessions law which was about to come formally into force on January 1, citing delays by the government in preparing and submitting the insolvency framework for debtors.
Finance minister Georgiades said today that the decision of the IMF was expected, adding that if the parliament had taken the decision to pass the law suspending foreclosures earlier, “the European Stability Mechanism which gave us 350 million euros would have done the same”.
