12 Apr 2013

Cost of Cyprus bailout rises

2:09 pm on 12 April 2013

The size of the bailout needed to rescue Cyprus has soared.

Eurozone finance ministers meet in Dublin on Friday to review how Cyprus can raise its contribution to the bailout being put together by the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The cost of the rescue has risen to €23 billion euros from €17.5 billion euros, according to Cyprus' creditors.

In order to secure €10 billion euros from the EU and IMF, Cyprus will have to find the remaining €13 billion euros, about €6 billion euros more than previously thought.

Late on Thursday, a Cypriot government spokesman confirmed that one fundraising option being considered was the sale of some of the country's gold reserves, the BBC reports.

Christos Stylianides blamed the gulf between the original bailout total and the new €23 billion figure on the previous administration and the time it took to negotiate a bailout, delays which pushed the cost of recapitalising its banks much higher.

Mr Stylianides accused former President Dimitris Christofias of failing to "take responsibility, and complete indecisiveness" in promptly negotiating a bailout.