Budget described as ‘disappointing’

THE ANNUAL budget debate entered its second day yesterday and is expected to be completed and voted on tomorrow.

Discussions began early in the morning and continued into the evening with deputies from each party giving their views.

While supporters of the government hailed the budget, the economy and the economic policies of the Tassos Papadopoulos administration, deputies from the opposition parties did the opposite.

DISY’s Lefteris Christoforou said it would be the last budget of this particular government. He also said it was disappointing and “without vision”, and without the prospect of helping the development of society.

Christoforou went into his pet topic of the reduction of income, purchasing power and the standard of living. “The Papadopoulos government is lacking effective measures and an effective policy,” he said.

Eleni Theocharous, also a DISY deputy focused on problems in the health sector and in the island’s hospitals, which she deemed as scandals. “This government dissolved the radiological clinic at Makarios Hospital and is now buying these services much more expensively,” she said.

AKEL’s Dina Akkelidou, a former Health Minister, also criticised the government’s health policies and gave a plug to her party leader and presidential candidate Demetris Christofias, saying he would do a lot better if elected.
The debate resumes this morning.
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