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"I am certain that before the end of the programme in 2016 we will be able to go to financial markets again", Anastasiades was quoted as saying by German daily Handelsblatt. "I hope we will see first signs of a turnaround in the second half of 2014", he added.
Its banks exposed to Greece, Cyprus was teetering on the brink of a financial meltdown, hammering large depositors at the island's two largest banks with losses and prompting a €10 billion bailout package in March. Lenders from the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), known as the troika, expect Cyprus' €17 billion economy to contract by 8.7 per cent this year and 3.9 per cent in 2014.
Under the bailout terms, Cyprus shut down one insolvent bank, Laiki, and forced big depositors to contribute towards recapitalising a second, Bank of Cyprus.