President stands by Finance Minister

President Anastasiades last night voiced his support for finance minister Haris Georgiades, lauding his achievements in rectifying the economy and dismissing calls for the minister’s resignation following a report on the collapse of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank.

In his statement, Anastasiades said that he has full confidence in Harris Georgiades.

The President disagreed with the report’s findings that Georgiades was responsible for the demise of the Cooperative.

‘’I might have deemed that the minister bears political responsibility had the collapse of the Cooperative was the result of non-performing loans amassed after 2013 and not as a result of the non-performing loans accumulated for decades up until 2013’’.

Georgiades took over at the Finance Ministry following the change of Government in 2013.

Anastasiades indicated that in 2013 the Cooperative was in a state of bankruptcy and complete collapse. ''It had non performing loans of 7 billion euros, which had been created before 2013, through dubious and scandalous procedures, as pointed out by the investigative committee''.

The decision to sell the Cooperative Bank to Hellenic Bank was applauded by the European Central Bank and the Single Supervisory Mechanism, rating houses and markets the President said.

The President said in his statement that Georgiades prevented the bankruptcy of the state, led the Cyprus economy in the successful completion of the terms of the bailout program, generated fiscal surplus, drastically reduced unemployment and achieved continuous economic growth which are one of the highest rates in Europe.

‘’In the light of the above, I want to confirm the political direction of the Government in the field of the economy and repeat that the Minister of Finance enjoys my full confidence’’.