'Preliminary' bailout deal in one month

Eurozone country Cyprus said on Saturday that it aims to reach a "preliminary agreement" with international lenders on a banking and sovereign bailout including Russian funds within the next month. Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly told reporters after chairing talks with European Union counterparts in Nicosia that he would not know the precise amount until further talks on terms and conditions set for Monday. "We anticipate preliminary agreement within the next month from now," he said, arguing that the delay in negotiations going back to the Cypriot government's request for financial assistance in June was due to the island nation taking over the EU rotating presidency, as well as the holidays and limited resources. He said that the final figures -- 10 billion euros ($13 billion) was suggested at the time -- would likely follow a formula whereby half came from Russia, with the other half divided into four parts eurozone and one part International Monetary Fund. "In the case of Ireland, bilateral loans also went into the overall troika (lenders) pot," he said, even if "the discussions with Russia are taking a different approach," which is more "political." He said Russia had only indicated that it would deliver its decision "in due course," but added that "we don't have a liquidity problem." Funding is needed to prop up a Greek-exposed banking system and recession-hit economy. The so-called troika of lenders -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF -- has made two visits to Cyprus since the Mediterranean resort island called in help. The troika reportedly wants to slash the state payroll by 15 percent, shave 10 percent off welfare benefits, reform or scrap the inflation-linked cost-of-living allowance and roll back government-subsidised housing finance. But the island's communist-led government has been resisting austerity moves that it says undermine an economy already in recession. Authorities have declined to say how much Cyprus' 17-billion-euro economy actually needs to remain solvent, but credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's estimates the figure could amount to as much as 15 billion euros over three years.