Cyprus central bank governor Panicos Demetriades resigns

Panicos Demetriades – the governor of Cyprus central bank – has resigned after reportedly experienced difficulties with the government and had been criticized for his handling of the country’s 10 billion-euro bailout.

There was no official statement on Monday about why Panicos Demetriades had stepped down.

Panicos Demetriades’ departure comes after Cyprus’ bailout was thrown into doubt when its parliament rejected a key part of the plan, and then passed it a day before the deadline was due to expire.

A spokesperson for the European Central Bank said: “The ECB takes note of the resignation of Panicos Demetriades who has been the governor of the central bank of Cyprus through very difficult times and played an important role in the implementation of the adjustment program.”

They added: “We count on a fruitful cooperation with his successor.”

Cyprus was nearly bankrupted after Greece’s financial crisis in 2010.

The country’s banks were hit heavily but its government did not have the funds to issue a bailout.

Slow economic growth and the stance of international lenders, who stopped offering loans, added to the pressure on the country’s finances.

Panicos Demetriades, formerly an economics professor at the University of Leicester, was appointed in May 2012 for five years by Cyprus’ former communist president, Demetris Christofias.

The former president has reportedly been blamed for policies which could have contributed to Cyprus’ crisis.

Last year Cyprus’ banking system was rescued from collapse by a 10 billion-euro bailout from the EU and IMF.

Current president, Nicos Anastasiades, said in September he might ask the country’s supreme court to rule on whether Panicos Demetriades could be sacked.

That was despite the ECB last year issuing repeated warnings to the Cypriot authorities not to interfere with the governor’s work.

Last month Cyprus’ lawmakers threw the bailout program, and the country’s next tranche of cash, into doubt over a bill allowing state firms to be privatized.