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Cypriot President reshuffles cabinet

19 March 2012 18:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Cypriot President Demetris Christofias made a partial reshuffle of his government and appointed a new finance minister, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou announced on Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Vasos Siarlis, the former manager at the Bank of Cyprus, will replace Kikis Kazamias who resigned last week for health reasons as finance minister, Stefanou said.

The new finance minister will have to oversee implementation of an austerity package introduced by Kazamias to consolidate the country’s economy and get public deficit down to below the European Union-required 3 percent of GDP.

Christofias also transferred his Interior Minister Neoklis Silikiotis to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as the former minister Praxoula Antoniadou submitted her resignation to the president a few days ago.

The spokesman refused to comment on press reports that Christofias was displeased with Antoniadou for causing controversy with parliament and not cooperating with other ministers and technocrats on hydrocarbons development.

Cyprus recently discovered a sizeable reserve of between 5 and 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in an offshore block leased to the United States-based oil and gas producer Noble Energy.

Eleni Mavrou, a former mayor of the capital Nicosia coming from the ruling AKEL party, was appointed to be minister of the Interior Ministry, said the spokesman.