MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2019) Cyprus has fully paid off its debt to Russia ahead of schedule, Harris Georgiades, the finance minister of Cyprus, said Monday.
In April of this year, the Mediterranean country had placed two issues of Eurobonds for 1.25 billion Euros ($1.37 billion) each specifically to repay the loan. The final deadline was 2021.
According to Georgiades, who posted the news on Twitter, the country has recently paid off the last 1.58 billion euros that it had owed to Russia.
After not wanting to implement stringent financial reforms by asking for the European Union's help, Nicosia received a 2.5 billion euro loan from Moscow in 2011 while suffering financial difficulties.
The loan was originally expected to be paid off by June 2016, but in 2013, due to a financial crisis, the debt was restructured and the repayment was postponed to the period of 2018-2021.
