News / Europe

Cyprus Secures Bailout from Eurozone, IMF

An elderly man holds his bank passbook as he looks through the windows of a closed cooperative bank shop in Limassol, Cyprus,  Mar. 16, 2013.
An elderly man holds his bank passbook as he looks through the windows of a closed cooperative bank shop in Limassol, Cyprus, Mar. 16, 2013.
TEXT SIZE - +
VOA News
Eurozone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund have struck a deal to give cash-strapped Cyprus a bailout worth $13 billion to avoid bankruptcy.

The deal was agreed upon early Saturday after 10 hours of talks.

The president of the Eurogroup, Dutch Finance Minister Jerome Dijsselbloem, said the assistance was "warranted to safeguard financial stability in Cyprus and the eurozone as a whole."

Cyprus has been caught in a financial crisis aggravated by the situation in Greece.

The government sought international help because Cypriot banks suffered huge losses from Greece's sovereign debt restructuring. The island nation, which has been shut out of international financial markets since May 2011, had originally requested $22 billion in aid.

Cyprus is the fifth member state to secure a debt rescue package from its 16 eurozone partners in the three-year debt crisis.

You May Like

India, China Pledge to Overcome Border Tensions

Indian prime minister and Chinese premier attempt to move past tense standoff in the Himalayas during Delhi talks More

Burmese President Opens US Visit with VOA Town Hall Meeting

Ahead of his meeting with President Obama Monday, Thein Sein answered questions on human rights and economic development in his country More

Video Washington Week: Focus on Burma, US Government Scandals

President Thein Sein visits the White House on Monday, Congressional probes of multiple scandals are continuing More

Featured Videos

Your JavaScript is turned off or you have an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.
Your JavaScript is turned off or you have an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.
Video

Video Boston Bomber Spent 6 Months in Russia’s Most Violent Republic

The news of the Boston Marathon bombings circled the globe, and resonated here in Dagestan, a majority Muslim republic in Russia, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Last year, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of two brothers suspected of the bombings and a long-time Boston resident, returned to Dagestan, where he had lived for a year during his youth. Dagestan was the land of his maternal ancestors. But in the last two years, this republic of 3 million people has gained notoriety as the region with the highest level of political and religious violence in all of Russia. VOA's James Brooke reports from Makhachkala, Russia.