Gold Magazine April - May 2013, Issue 25 | Page 25

Christis Christoforou: Soon the dust
will settle. Be patient and look at the

We Told
You So…

“Cyprus is also caught deep in the
euro debt crisis. The domestic commercial banks’ assets, at 5 times (€92
billion) the country’s GDP, are heavily
exposed to Greece both through their
bond portfolios and loan books. The
former are at relatively manageable
levels but, with an anticipated economic
deterioration in Greece, the latter are
worrisome. We therefore expect government intervention of varying degrees
in Cyprus’s largest banks. Raising the
required estimate of €3.6 billion from the
market to increase the core Tier 1 ratio
and to buffer versus further losses due
to Greek sovereign debt will prove difficult in this critical environment. Through
a partial nationalisation of the banks, the
confidence of Russian and other foreign
deposi ѽ