With a razor-thin majority of just two votes, lawmakers approved terms accompanying €10 billion ($13.18 billion) in aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a show of hands, 29 lawmakers from the three parties in the centre-right government approved the motion, with 27 voting against. .
Government officials had warned the island would fall into chaotic default, unable to pay salaries or pensions, as early as next month without emergency funding. "Unfortunately the (bailout) is a one-way street for us. It will avert disorderly default and gives, albeit with many hurdles, some prospect of getting us out of the storm", said Averof Neophytou, head of the governing right-wing Democratic Rally party.
The bailout was unlike any other aid deal, controversially forcing depositors to foot the cost of recapitalising banks exposed to debt-crippled Greece. Opposition parties argued that the bailout would keep Cyprus in perpetual bondage to foreign lenders.
Cyprus, the eurozone's third smallest country, is bracing for at least two more years of economic misery and record unemployment as terms on the bailout start to bite.
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