NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus is "very close" to signing an agreement with potential creditors for a bailout to support its troubled banks and pay its bills, the crisis-hit country's president said Thursday.

President Dimitris Christofias said that the "very limited" number of differences that remain could be bridged "very soon."

The statement comes a day after Cypriot officials wrapped up a third round of negotiations with officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, collectively known as the troika.

"Following tough negotiations with the troika and always bearing in mind the difficult situation that our country now finds itself in, we are very close to signing a memorandum with the troika," Christofias, who is in Brussels for a European Union budget summit, said in a written statement.

Christofias didn't specify which issues remain unresolved, but Cypriot officials, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, said they include how proceeds from offshore natural gas finds are managed, the privatization of profitable, state-owned companies and the state's contribution to workers' pension fund.

The statement was greeted with guarded relief in the country which was hit on Wednesday by another two-notch credit rating cut. Ratings agency Fitch sank Cyprus deeper into junk status amid worries over a weakening economy that the Cypriot finance ministry projected will shrink by 3.5 percent next year.

However, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has repeatedly said that he does not expect a deal with Cyprus to be finalized before early next year.

"Cyprus is negotiating with the troika which must compile a report at the end of its consultations. That's what we wait for. It will be evaluated when it's there," a finance ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Once the full troika report will be available, Germany's Parliament will also have to vote on the bailout deal. With only four weeks left before its Christmas recess, it is likely the vote might be scheduled for the new year.

Cyprus asked for international aid in June to prop up its banking sector — which has total assets with an estimated value of eight times the size of the country's €17.5 billion ($22.4 billion) economy — that took huge losses on bad Greek debt and loans.

The overall size of the bailout is estimated to hover between €13-17.5 billion ($16.6-22.4 billion) depending on the exact amount that the banks will need to recover. Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said that amount won't be known before consultancy firm PIMCO and auditors Deloitte which are currently pouring through the banks' books, come up with a preliminary figure early next month.

Shiarly said apart from the banks' needs, the bailout will include €6 billion ($7.7 billion) to refinance the country's debt and another €1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) to cover fiscal deficits over the bailout's four-year implementation period up to and including 2016. Continued...