Harris Georgiades

When Harris Georgiades became Finance Minister of Cyprus one year ago some said he had been handed a poisoned chalice. He has had to preside over tough austerity measures that are driving up poverty levels in the country. The economy is shrinking, unemployment will perhaps reach 20% this year and wages are being slashed. These were the tough conditions of a 10 billion Euro bailout granted last year with the Troika of the European Central Bank, the EU and the IMF to avoid a collapse of the banking system in Cyprus. So why then does the Finance Minister believe that the economy is proving more resilient than expected? Is he being too optimistic?