Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and his French counterpart Pierre Moscovici published a joint statement Monday morning urging a deal to be made on a bailout for Cyprus by the end of March.

"Discussion must begin soon to meet the objective of reaching an agreement (on Cyprus' bailout) by the end of March. We urge the Troika (representatives from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank) and Cypriot authorities to make progress on finalizing the memorandum of understanding," the above Finance Ministers said in the statement.

The joint communiqué comes after conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades was elected as the seventh president of Cyprus after winning 57.5% of the votes. Anastasiades won by the widest margin in 30 years over Stavros Malas who was backed by the communist party of outgoing president Demetris Christofias and achieved just 42.5% of the vote.

International creditors had been waiting for the election outcome to proceed with talks on providing an expected €18bn bailout for the country's banks so Cyprus can achieve funding for the next three years.

JM

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