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Despite bailout, Cyprus banks remain shut

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Cyprus reversed course and decided to keep its banks shut as world markets took fright at the implications for the eurozone of the island’s 10-billion-euro bailout deal with international creditors.

Defending the deal earlier, President Nicos Anastasiades said that while he shared widespread bitterness on the island at certain aspects of the negotiations, quitting the eurozone was not the answer.

He promised a criminal investigation to identify those responsible for the debacle.

All banks are to remain shut until Thursday, the Central Bank of Cyprus announced in a shock statement late Monday, cancelling an earlier decision to open most banks on Tuesday.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades: serious banking crisis

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades: serious banking crisis

Finance Minister Michael Sarris had decided to follow central bank governor Panicos Demetriades’s recommendation to “ensure the smooth functioning of the entire banking system” the statement said.

Just hours earlier, the central bank had said all Cyprus banks except for its two biggest lenders, those worst-hit by the financial crisis, would reopen Tuesday after a 10-day lockdown for fear of a run on deposits.

Laiki Bank and the Bank of Cyprus were in any case staying shut until Thursday due to the restructuring and merger agreed under the terms of the bailout.

But stock markets reeled after the head of the Eurogroup, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, suggested that the deal could form the basis for future bailouts in the zone.

“Taking away the risk from the financial sector and taking it on to the public shoulders is not the right approach,” he said.

“If we want to have a healthy, sound financial sector, the only way is to say: ‘Look, there where you take the risks, you must deal with them, and if you can’t deal with them you shouldn’t have taken them on and the consequence might be that it is end of story’.”

After European markets closed, his office clarified, saying Cyprus was “a specific case with exceptional challenges”.

But by then, the damage to stock markets and the euro had been done. US stocks also tumbled on Monday.

Soon afterwards, the Cypriot finance ministry decided to postpone the reopening of all banks.

The euro recovered some of its value in later trading in New York. Early Tuesday however, Asian markets markets followed the downward trend, dipping in the wake of Dijsselbloem’s remarks.

It was in the early hours of Monday morning that Anastasiades clinched a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union that threw the debt-stricken eurozone member a 10-billion-euro lifeline.

In an address to the nation after returning from the Brussels talks, he expressed confidence that Cyprus would “find its feet again”.

And in the face of public outrage over the devastation of the island’s prized banking sector, he vowed to open a criminal investigation into the crisis “…to find and attribute responsibility wherever it belongs”.

He said he shared the “bitterness and disappointment” felt by many on the island at the attitude of “some of our respected partners” in the eurozone. But he insisted that quitting the single currency was not the answer.

The deal averts a chaotic eurozone exit for the island — but at a heavy price.

Depositors in the two biggest banks — many of them Russian — will pay huge levies on deposits over 100,000 euros ($ 130,000). The deal also effectively shuts down Laiki, the island’s second-largest lender.

Part of Laiki is to be merged with Bank of Cyprus, whose larger depositors will face a “haircut” of 30 percent, government spokesman Christos Stylianides said.

The European Central Bank announced that in light of the deal it would continue emergency funding of the two banks, which it had been threatening to cut off.

The banks’ merger is likely to lead to major job losses in a sector that had been one of the few growth areas in the island’s economy. Credit to consumers and small businesses is also set to dry up.

“We are expecting a deep recession and a rise in unemployment,” Cypriot Labour Minister Harris Georgiades told Tuesday’s edition of the German daily Bild.

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Nigeria News

Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Nigeria News

Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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