Eurozone finance ministers approved today in Brussels the payment of the first tranche of 2 billion euro of aid from the Permanent Rescue Fund (ESM) for Cyprus. The total aid envisaged is 10 billion euros (9 billion from the ESM and 1 billion from the IMF). The second tranche, for about another billion euros, should be paid by 30 June.
These loans, reads the ESM statement, "will help maintain the financial stability of the Eurozone and buy time for Cyprus, allowing it to prepare the necessary reforms to rebuild its economy on a sustainable basis".
