Cyprus Central Bank gets woman chief

File photo: Yorgos Karahalis

File photo: Yorgos Karahalis

Published Mar 11, 2014

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Athens - Cyprus on Tuesday appointed its first ever woman to head the central bank, the presidential office said in a statement. President Nicos Anastasiades appointed Chrystalla Georghadji, who headed the island's anti-corruption watchdog since 1998, after governor Panicos Demetriades resigned on Monday.

She will take over from Demetriades, who resigned after just two years into a five-year term. The statement said European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi was informed of the appointment. Demetriades, who was appointed by the former Communist administration, cited personal and family reasons behind his resignation.

His poor relations with the president is believed to be the real reason for his departure. Anastasides has been critical of the manner in which Demetriades has handled a bailout deal with Cyprus' international creditors:

the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), collectively known as the troika. Demetriades has argued that when he took over in May 2012, less than a year before the bailout, he assumed a poorly regulated banking system which had been taking excessive risks.

Under the bailout programme agreed in March 2013, large depositors in the Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank were forced to take considerable losses as a condition for Cyprus receiving 10 billion euros (13.85-billion-dollar).

Sapa-dpa

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