THE CABINET yesterday appointed two executive members to the board of the Central Bank (CBC), prompting a fierce reaction from main opposition AKEL.
The government handed executive powers to board member Stelios Kiliaris and senior CBC director Giorgos Syrihas.
It was the latter’s appointment, which enraged AKEL.
“AKEL considers the act unacceptable,” party spokesman Giorgos Loukaides said in a statement.
AKEL associates Syrihas with former CBC governor Athanasios Orphanides whom the party holds responsible for the island’s economic woes.
Syrihas had been sidelined after former president Demetris Christofias appointed current governor Panicos Demetriades in May 2012.
The communist party said Syrihas was effectively acting as a deputy governor and his appointment was a “brutal provocation towards the Cypriot people who is suffering today by the consequences of the banks’ actions and the omissions of the regulating authorities.”
The appointment aimed at controlling the CBC and not an effort to improve the role of the regulator.
“On the contrary, it constitutes a reward for those who bear very serious responsibility for the condition of the banking system,” Loukaides said.
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