Cyprus replaces bank head amid crisis

Article reported that Cyprus replaced its internationally respected central bank governor Athanasios Orphanides in April 2012 amid a deepening banking crisis that could make the island the next eurozone member-state to seek a bail-out from its European partners.

Panicos Demetriades, a professor of financial economics at Leicester University in the UK, took up the post in early May 2012.

Mr Orphanides had steered Cyprus into the eurozone in 2008 but clashed publicly with the communist government over its reluctance to adopt fiscal and structural reforms following the global financial crisis.

Website: Central Bank of Cyprus http://www.centralbank.gov.cy/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1&lang=en

ESO: Background information: Cypriot finance minister resigns http://www.europeansources.info/record/cypriot-finance-minister-resigns/

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