Latest: Corruption and Money Laundering.

Recidivism. The curse on Cyprus

05 August, 2016 | Posted By: Alan Waring

By Dr Alan Waring With the 2013 financial crisis in Cyprus, the intervention by the Troika (EU, ECB and IMF) brought not just a last minute rescue but also heralded the wholesale reform of Cyprus’s financial institutions, economy, government structures and ways of doing things. The Troika’s message was that there would be no more ‘business as usual’, no more acceptance of cosy incompetence and casual inefficiencies and no more blind eyes being turned to fraud, corruption and rusfeti, all of which had been instrumental in causing the 2013 crisis.

---

 
The Memorandum of actions and reforms imposed on Cyprus by the Troika, as a condition to receive the bailout funds, came as a shock to a society in which incompetence, inefficiency, fraud, corruption and rusfeti had become part of the cultural DNA. 
So, three-and-a-half years on, has there been the kind of sea change envisaged by the Troika in 2013? Has there been excellent progress, little progress or somewhere in between? From here on, are there any dangerous icebergs looming out of the fog that Cyprus needs to avoid? 

The Good News The Anastasiades government, and especially Finance Minister Haris Georgiades, has worked something of a miraculous turnaround in the state’s finances and managed to exit the bailout programme in record time, given the gravity of the nation’s dire state in March 2013. The economy is now stable and there is a mood of optimism generally in the population for a gradual improvement and strengthening of the economy. Although not yet complete, major structural and procedural reforms are underway in the public sector and the banks. Although there is still some way to go, the attitude of officials in dealing with citizens and customers has also shown a marked improvement and is now far more helpful and respectful than in earlier years. To paraphrase former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, public sector officials are now accepting that they are the servants of the public not their master, i.e. the public do not exist to provide public servants with a comfortable well-paid job. 

Readmore: