FINANCE Minister Vassos Shiarly said yesterday he hoped international lenders would visit "very very soon" for a final round of talks on financial aid and conclude them before a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on November 12.
Shiarly also told state radio that he believed comments attributed to his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble on a delay in talks until 2013 on Wednesday were a "misunderstanding".
"I believe, and hope that very very soon there will be an announcement for the arrival of the troika," said Shiarly, referring to the collective of lenders from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF.
An IMF spokesman said yesterday they expected a follow-up mission soon but no date has been set yet.
"..We would want it (a deal) very much to be discussed on November. 12," Shiarly added, but implied that things were still fluid.
He has said before that he wanted finance ministers to approve a deal at the November meeting. It would still need approval from national parliaments, which could take about six weeks.
Schaeuble said on Wednesday that concrete negotiations between the troika and Cyprus had not started yet and his assumption was that they would start in the coming year.
The German minister was responding to a question on whether lenders would ask Cyprus to raise its low corporate tax in return for the aid.
Schaeuble said he was not in a position to evaluate the negotiations but he knew that members of the monetary union have raised this demand emphatically. “And I believe the Cypriot government knows this.”
The government has repeatedly said that the corporate tax, one of the lowest in the EU, was non-negotiable.
Cyprus sought aid from its EU partners and the IMF in June after its two largest banks were battered by a Greek sovereign debt write-down, further depressing an economy already struggling with public finance problems.
Minutes of a confidential meeting with party leaders on October 3, leaked to media this week, showed Shiarly expressing concern some EU partners would "butcher" the island in their austerity demands in return for aid if Cyprus’ case were to be discussed in isolation.
The same minutes quote the minister as saying the government may struggle to pay public sector salaries in December unless a bailout deal is clinched by mid-November.
Meeting December's payroll commitments was contingent on the goodwill of bankers, the minister said according to the minutes.
Central Bank Governor Panicos Demetriades meanwhile said “substantial progress” had been made in talks with the troika
"I can say there has been substantial progress - in the last few days particularly - in our negotiations with the troika," Demetriades said yesterday. "I anticipate the troika will be in a position to come to Cyprus soon with the purpose of finalising the financial assistance programme."
The government has been accused of dragging its feet in preparing its response to the lenders who had submitted their proposals on July 25, after two fact-finding missions.
The administration says it wanted to consult with parties and unions before putting together its package.
Demetriades said the reform programme currently being discussed as part of the island bailout, contained some of the most significant changes since the inception of the Republic.
"It is vital these reforms have the legitimacy they deserve to have," he said.
Main opposition leader Nicos Anastassiades signalled that Cyprus has already lost the November 12 deadline.
“I am worried by the fact that valuable time has been lost and what is more worrying is that we overshot the November deadline,” Anastassiades said. “I don’t want to say more on the dangers stemming from the delay.”
Anastassiades, who spoke after meeting President Demetris Christofias, said time was of the essence as regards the conditions of the bailout so that they don’t become worse.
Christofias said Cyprus was not “begging the troika to come” but was “inviting” them. “Of course, we are guided by several positions and strategic principles that we have set,” he said.
