Cypriot deputies review amended sell-off plan
The Cyprus Parliament will review an amended privatization motion on Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt to win support from fractious lawmakers threatening to derail its international bailout program, one day before a deadline by lenders to approve the plan expires.
The island’s opposition-dominated parliament threw out a proposed road-map for the sale of state assets last Thursday.
The no vote raises the risk the island will be plunged back into fiscal turmoil just a year after the 10-billion-euro lifeline from the European Union and IMF pulled it back from the brink of default.
Under that plan, Cyprus must privatize its ports, telecoms and electricity companies to raise up to 1.4 billion and pay down debt by 2018.
Center and left-wing parties rejected the privatization scheme, but the government resubmitted the bill with amendments that have won the approval of center party DIKO.
Government officials said the new proposals addressed concerns over legacy rights of workers at corporations which would be privatized.
[Reuters]
