Cyprus, whose banking sector was damaged by the restructuring of Greek debt, expects to reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding with international lenders on a bailout within a month to month and a half, Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said on Saturday. Asked about the size of the bailout, Shiarly said it was difficult to assess at this stage and gave the example of Spain, where the banking sector recapitalisation needs were initially assessed at around 50 billion euros, but the euro zone loan made available to Spain was up to 100 billion, even though the final amount was likely to be much smaller. (full story)