The Cypriot authorities and representatives of the troika of international lenders (EU, ECB and IMF) have agreed on the terms of a loan agreement to provide the island state with financial assistance in the amount of 10 billion euros, Cypriot government spokesman Christos Stylianides told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have reached a memorandum. This is a significant event,” Stylianidis was quoted as saying by Reuters .

According to him, Cyprus will receive the first tranche of the stabilization loan from the troika in May of this year. In exchange for assistance, Cyprus is obliged to take measures to strengthen the national economy by 2018.

Negotiations between Cyprus and the Troika began in the summer of 2012. In March 2013, the parties tentatively agreed on a plan under which creditors would provide the island with a €10 billion loan in exchange for introducing measures that would allow Cyprus to raise the remaining €5.8 billion needed to stabilize the financial sector. It was assumed that in order to raise funds, Cyprus would restructure bank deposits by writing off a certain tax on balances from accounts of 20 thousand euros or more. Parliament refused to support the bill on the “haircut” of deposits, after which negotiations between Cyprus and creditors went to the second round. At the same time, Cyprus began negotiations on financial assistance with Russia, but they ended without results. As a result, Cyprus managed to agree with the “troika” on a loan in exchange for the restructuring of the two largest banks with a write-off of 40-80% of funds from large deposits.

Simultaneously with the announcement of the conclusion of an agreement between Cyprus and international creditors, it became known about the resignation of the island’s Minister of Finance, Michalis Sarris. As reported by Bloomberg , citing a statement from Sarris himself, his resignation letter has already been accepted by the country's President Nicos Anastasiades. In mid-March, the media already reported Sarris’s resignation from the post of Minister of Finance of Cyprus, but this information was not confirmed then.

Cyprus and the Troika agreed on the terms of a loan of 10 billion euros