—-The conclusion of the negotiations with the Troika for Cyprus’ bailout program of 10 billion euro lead to the restarting of the island’s economy and terminates a long period of uncertainty, Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides said Tuesday.

Speaking during a press briefing at the Presidential Palace, Stylianides spoke of a very important development that ought to have taken place a lot earlier, “under more favorable economic and political conditions”.

The deal with the Troika still needs ratification from national EU parliaments and Eurogroup. The interest rate is approximately 2.5% and the 10 bln loan is repayable over a 12 year period after a grace period of a decade.

Referring in particular to the agreement as regards the natural gas reserves, the Spokesman pointed out that the Republic’s sovereign rights are secured.

Spokesman said that the Government takes into full account the new geostrategic changes in our region and announced that President Anastasiades as well as the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Energy are to visit Israel in the near future.

Energy Minister George Lakkotrypes further said that the revenue management as well as the exploitation of the reserves, are to the full authority of the Cyprus Republic.

Finance Minister Michalis Sarris, who today resigned from his post, hours after the conclusion of the negotiations, said that the years 2013 and 2014  will be hard for all of us, pointing out however that the prospects are encouraging.

He was not in a position to say when the bank restrictions will be lifted fully, however he noted that these measures will be eased gradually.

On his behalf Education Minister said that the government made a hard effort to change the clause that refers to the extend of the school periods by an hour and thus to safeguard the positions of 500 teachers.

The Eurogroup has reached an agreement with the Cypriot authorities on March 25th on the key elements necessary for a future macroeconomic adjustment programme of 10 billion euro.

The island’s second largest bank, Laiki splits into a “good” and a “bad” bank. The bank`s “good” assets will be transferred to Bank of Cyprus, where a massive haircut will be imposed on uninsured deposits of more than 100,000 euros.

Excluded from international markets, Cyprus applied in June 2012 for financial assistance, after its two largest banks sought state aid, following massive write downs of their Greek bond holdings amounting to €4.5 billion or 25% of the island`s GDP, as a result of the Greek sovereign debt haircut.