By a Staff Reporter
THE GOVERNMENT yesterday appointed a nine-member committee drawing from the private sector to advise the government on the economy.
The nine-member Council of Economic Experts, directly answerable to President Tassos Papadopoulos, will be headed by former DIKO politician Alexis Galanos.
According to Galanos, the creation of the Council was one of Papadopoulos’ manifesto promises.
“The aim is to help and supplement the government’s work and the economy,” Galanos said, stressing that the Council would have a clear advisory capacity.
“We are all of us here strictly in a personal capacity,” Galanos said. The other eight members of the Council have been named as Renos Solomides, Christos Mavrellis, George Hadjianastassiou, Nicos Symeonides, Andreas Philippou, Sofronis Etokleous, Theodoros Panayiotou and Marios Klitou.
According to its mandate, the Council will consult with the President on economic issues and will submit reports and analyses to the President and the Finance Ministry, not only on national but also international issues.
Officials from the Finance Ministry’s Planning Bureau and Economic Research departments will attend Council meetings.
“I believe that we will be of help in the subject of the economy,” Galanos told reporters. “The economy is at a really difficult crossroads and there are also a variety of political developments to be taken into consideration at the moment.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
