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Georgiades: Young economist takes Cyprus finance hot seat

02 April 2013, 16:43 CET
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(NICOSIA) - Haris Georgiades, who was appointed the new Cyprus finance minister on Tuesday, is a young economist who will face the huge task of trying to the steer debt-ridden island out of bailout turbulence.

Georgiades was catapulted into the critical and by some counts unpopular job only days before celebrating his 41st birthday on April 9 and just one month after he had been named labour minister.

He replaces Michalis Sarris who quit the post saying one of the reasons was that he had been chairman of Laiki Bank, whose failure was a major contributor to the island's near financial meltdown.

Slim and with a receding hairline, Georgiades studied economics and international relations at the University of Reading in Britain and later did a masters in Euro-Mediterranean studies.

He is a member of the rightwing Disy -- or Democratic Rally -- party of President Nicos Anastasiades and is considered a trusted aide of the conservative leader.

Georgiades was named labour minister on March 1, days after Anastasiades' election victory.

Before that he had been Disy spokesman from 2009, and played a key role during the presidential campaign. He was also deputy chief of the party's economic policy department, according to his official biography.

He was first elected to parliament for Disy in May 2011, serving on the committee of financial and budgetary affairs among other tasks.

A day after his appointment as labour and social insurance minister, Georgiades spoke to reporters to outline his goals and insisted Cyprus should act quickly to reach a bailout agreement with its international lenders.

At the time he also said the government should work as one to fix the east Mediterranean island's financial woes "because this is not an issue concerning only one ministry".

Last week he was quoted as saying in the Cyprus Mail newspaper that the island's economy would inevitably go into deeper recession and that the jobless rate would rise.

"Our economy, which was already in recession for some time now, will be led into a deeper recession. Unfortunately the record-high unemployment will rise even more," he said.

But he also pledged that he would try to find ways to encourage businesses to keep their staff and even create new positions, warning of the social repercussions of the crisis across Cyprus.

As he steps into the finance ministry he will face ever bigger challenges.

In March Cyprus was pushed to the verge of bankruptcy before having to agree a 10-billion-euro ($13-billion) bailout that necessitates severe financial reforms and the collapse of Laiki bank.

Georgiades is married to Eva Yiangou and the couple have a daughter.


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