Cyprus President criticizes bailout terms, asks lenders to lift bank restrictions

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades unleashed a scathing attack on the bailout conditions placed on the country by the international lenders, saying that his country may not be able to meet the rescue terms because they have harmed the economy and banking system even more than expected.

Anastasiades charged that the Eurozone leaders had treated the island unjustly in their concern to avoid further contagion to the Greek economy while he added Greece received more lender support, whereas Cyprus has not, the financial times reported according to a leaked letter he sent last week.

Anastasiades letter was addressed to the chiefs of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund and to the presidents of the European Council and the Eurogroup.

In his letter, the conservative president said that the unprecedented haircut imposed on the country`s two largest banks, the centerpiece of the March rescue, had been "implemented without careful preparation."

Cyprus bailout forced the closure of the island`s second-largest financial institution, Laiki bank, and a drastic restructuring of its largest, Bank of Cyprus and required depositors with more than €100,000 in both banks to pay for the banks` bailout.

Anastasiades also appealed to the leaders of international lenders to urgently lift controls on bank transactions which were introduced with the aim of preventing cash run on the banks after the so-called troika forced a loss on major bank deposits.