Stavrakis pleased with EU confidence

FINANCE Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said yesterday he was pleased with the EU’s forecasts for the Cyprus economy for 2009.

Speaking in Brussels where he was attending a meeting of European Finance Ministers (ECOFIN), Stavrakis said it was good to see such strong predictions for Cyprus in the midst of an international financial crisis.

“The Commission published its revised estimates for 2008-2010, which underlines the seriousness of the economic situation in the EU,” said Stavrakis.

The Commission’s report on Cyprus said that although 2009 growth had been revised to around 3.0 per cent from an initial 3.7 per cent, the Cyprus economy is still expected to outgrow the rest of the EU next year.

Growth of 0.2 per cent is predicted for the bloc as a whole for 2009, climbing slightly to 1.1 per cent in 2010. For Cyprus, growth of 3.2 per cent is expected in 2010.

“The revised data and statements suggest that Europe has now entered a general economic downturn, with zero growth for 2009 and a large increase in unemployment,” Stavrakis said.

“But it was pleasing that the Commission continues to give credit to the Cypriot economy,” he added.

Stavrakis said ECOFIN had also stressed the great uncertainty in projections.

Given this, he said, the government must be careful to maintain the current high forecast levels.

The Commission specifically said that a subdued real estate sector in Cyprus was likely to weigh heavily on the economy’s growth prospects, next year.

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.