WASHINGTON, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Saturday said she welcomed the joint loan program with the eurozone for Cyprus to help the nation tackle its economic challenges.
After about 10 hours of negotiations, the eurozone and the IMF early Saturday morning agreed on a 10-billion-euro (about 13 billion U.S. dollar) bailout package for Cyprus.
"The IMF has always said that we would support a solution that is sustainable, that is fully financed, and that appropriately allocates the burden sharing. I believe that the agreed package meets these three objectives," Lagarde said in a statement.
"On this basis, I intend to make a recommendation to our Executive Board for the IMF to contribute to the financing of the package," she noted.
The deal was announced by Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers, which is also attended by Lagarde.
|
