Cyprus approves first post-bailout budget
The Cyprus Parliament has approved the island’s first post-bailout budget providing deep spending cuts in 2014 of about 10 percent to ensure international bailout targets are met, and the IMF duly released the next bailout tranche to Nicosia worth 83.5 million euros on Friday.
The late Thursday majority vote – 30 for, 20 against and four abstentions – came after a two-day debate.
Around 626 million euros has been shaved off the budget compared to 2013.
Net expenditure, minus interest payments, will reach 5.59 billion euros next year compared with 6.22 billion provided for in the 2013 budget.
The International Monetary Fund said the funds were made available to Cyprus following the completion of the IMF executive board’s second review of Cyprus’s performance under an economic program supported by a 1-billion-euro loan approved in May.
[AFP]
