While praising Cyprus for exiting the nine-billion-Euro bailout with 30 percent of the money unspent, the Eurogroup said that privatising CYTA would contribute to growth and was a last step that had not been completed.

Whether there is any leverage to hold the Cyprus authorities to this promise is unlikely, given that the state no longer needs the money and the trade unions’ stubborn determination to keep private investors out of the semi-government organisations CYTA and EAC. Upcoming elections in May would also put a dampener on any more big changes in the state’s economic affairs.

The fundamentals haven’t changed much, however, growth is still slow, unemployment is still high and businesses are struggling to survive amid a lack of funding from the banking sector.

One argument for keeping CYTA in the public sector is that it is a profitable company that co-exists with a number of competitors, so the condition of free competition is fulfilled and the state makes a good income from it.

But the usual problem with state-owned commercial enterprises like CYTA and the EAC is that they are expensive operations and slow to change. In fact, the whole state system has to improve its efficiency. A recent example that comes to mind is the corruption allegations in the Paphos landfill case, in which the state was overcharged to the tune of millions of Euros, and the cost was passed onto taxpayers. CYTA itself has also seen its fair share of scandals, most recently after one of its chairmen was jailed for accepting bribes in a land purchase deal.

Too many scandals later, and one can only wonder at the cost to the economy and taxpayers.

So, yes, Cyprus no longer needs the ECB and IMF’s money, but unless reforms continue, corruption in the public sector is stamped out, and the relationship between the state and the private sector balances out, more headwinds lie ahead for the economy.