Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly and Central Bank Governor Panicos Demetriades will hold a joint meeting with the representatives of the Troika today on Tuesday.

A Troika mission (representatives of EU Commission, European Central Bank and IMF) returned to Cyprus on Monday, as part of the Republic’s application for financial assistance from the EU bailout mechanism, to negotiate with the government the bailout terms and conditions.

The Troika was here in early July on a fact finding mission for a close scrutiny of the banking sector, which has been severely hit by Greek sovereign debt haircut and over-exposure to the Greek economy, as well as the refinancing requirements of the government.

Following the meeting, at noon at the Ministry of Finance, there will be a meeting between Troika representatives and Ministerial Committee responsible for economic issues, comprising the Ministers of Finance Vassos Shiarly, Labour and Social Insurance Sotiroula Charalambous, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Neoclis Sylikiotis and Deputy Minister to the President Titos Christofides.

The Ministerial Committee, which met yesterday, looked into issues that will be raised at today’s meeting with representatives of the Troika.

A press release issued here Monday by the Ministry of Finance said the main aim of the meetings “is to hold further discussions on various issues, including the assessment of macroeconomic trends, prospects of public finances and the recapitalisation needs of the financial sector”.

It added that “the meetings aim at developing common views with regard to the main challenges currently facing the Cyprus economy as well as the appropriate strategy and policy responses”.

“The main focus will be on the banking sector”, the Ministry of Finance noted.

The Troika meetings are expected to be completed by July 27.