An MP on Thursday claimed that the Cypriot state was preparing to “borrow again” to repay a €6.3 billion bailout granted back in 2013.

Zacharias Koulias (Diko) made the comments while the House plenary was voting on the fiscal report for 2023 submitted to it by the government. The fiscal report for the preceding year must be approved by parliament at least three months prior to the end of the current year.

An integral part of governmental financial accountability, the fiscal report includes the amounts spent on investments, as well as loans and guarantees.

In his remarks, Koulias recalled that in 2013 Cyprus got a €6.3 billion loan from the European Stability Mechanism, and that this loan was coming due.

“These debts must be paid off on time and not passed onto future generations,” he said.

He was pointing this out, he said, because he had “information” that “some quarters are getting ready to borrow again.” He did not elaborate.

Euro area member states agreed a financial assistance package for Cyprus in April 2013. The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) disbursed nine loan tranches from May 2013 to October 2015. Cyprus will repay the principal on ESM loans from 2025 to 2031.

According to the ESM’s loan repayment schedule for Cyprus, the island will repay just under €400 million in 2025, €1 billion per year from 2026 to 2028, a little over €1 billion in 2029, €900 million in 2030, and €1 billion in 2031.

On another issue, Koulias complained that Cyprus has been spending, per capita, more on hosting refugees from Ukraine than on assistance for Greek Cypriot refugees.

He said that between 2022 and 2024, the government has spent €92.1 million on around 21,600 Ukrainian refugees. During the same time period, he noted, the government spent €196 million on the approximately 200,000 Greek Cypriots designated as refugees.

“Some people need to think about this,” the MP said.