It doesn't seem too long ago that Europe looked on in despair as yet another country appeared on the brink of collapse. Back in 2013 panic spread through Cyprus financial system as government bonds were downgraded to junk status and long queues formed outside cash machines as the country failed to make ends meet.
Fast forward to March 2016 via a rescue package program, raft of reforms and austerity measures and the country is exiting its three-year, 10 billion euro financial aid package as one of the more robust euro zone economies. It has also been given a big pat on the back by creditors.
CNBC has a rundown of what happened to Cyprus and where it's going now.
Cyprus exited its 10 billion euro ($11 billion) bailout on Monday without any successor arrangement, in fact, about 30 percent of its entire bailout funds were not even utilized. Cyprus was commended in a statement from the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, one of the bodies which oversaw the implementation of its bailout program, on Monday.
"The Eurogroup commends the Cypriot authorities for the overall successful implementation of the program and the important achievements made in the past three years, and also thanks the institutions for their vital contribution towards this end."
The Eurogroup welcomed the fact that economic activity has continued on a positive trend, and the banking system had "further healed.
"The commitment of the authorities and the Cypriot people to the overall program agreements has also been essential to a fiscal performance that has exceeded expectations. These positive developments have been instrumental in regaining investor confidence in the Cypriot economy, with the sovereign returning to the international markets," the group added.
The exit is important for the island nation as it heralds the country's return to international credibility on the financial markets after it became the fourth euro zone country to seek a bailout (Ireland, Portugal and Greece had all been bailed out before with Spain also taking aid to help out its banks) in 2013.
The island's banking system collapsed in 2013, largely due to its exposure to Greece which experienced a sovereign debt crisis in 2012. In return for the 10 billion euros bailout, Cyprus also had to agree to a "bail-in" – using deposits and banking controls to contribute to the banks' rescue.
This saw the Cyprus Popular Bank wound down and another – the Bank of Cyprus – recapitalized by measures including the controversial seizure of depositors' uninsured savings above 100,000 euros ($120,000). Many of those affected by the deposit seizure were Russians believed to be using the island as a tax haven.