Cyprus announced Monday it has fully repaid a 2.5-billion-euro ($2.7-billion) loan it secured from Russia in 2011, settling its balance two years early.
"A short while ago the Russian loan was fully paid off," Finance Minister Harris Georgiades tweeted, saying the final amount was 1.58 billion euros.
"Cyprus can now comfortably finance its needs from the international markets," he added. In 2011, Cyprus negotiated the loan from Moscow at the onset of a financial crisis compounded by the heavy exposure of its banks to debt-burdened Greece.