Public debt was still low, but growing rapidly; the current-account deficit was ballooning (reaching 15% of GDP in 2008); and the banks had gone Icelandic, with assets worth more than three times Cyprus’s GDP. As the report noted, the huge and highly concentrated banking sector’s problems could “quickly escalate to systemic proportions with serious economic repercussions.”
塞浦路斯使用欧元到底有什么好处，一直让人迷糊。2009年，IMF章程第四条核评报告便已经敲响了警钟。公债水平虽然较低，但增长很快；经常项目赤字激增（2008年达到了GDP的15%）；银行冰岛化，资产价值相当于塞浦路斯GDP的三倍多。报告指出，高度集中的巨额银行部门问题可能“很快上升为系统性问题，造成严重的经济反应。”果真如此。