CROSSINGS between the two communities increased in 2008 with around €27.3 million changing hands across the divide, an economic survey revealed yesterday.
According to the statistics published by the Peace Economics Consortium, there were four million crossings between the two communities in 2008 compared to 3.5 million the previous year.
Many of these were put down to the between 3,500 and 5,000 Turkish Cypriots who work in the government-controlled areas on a daily basis.
Turkish Cypriots spent €19.9 million in the south while Greek Cypriots spent €7.4 million in the north, the consortium said.
The group said it has launched a project to research and promote economic interdependence between the two communities.
“This project will help us achieve a long lasting and fair solution to the Cyprus problem,” said consortium representative Costas Apostolides. “Economic interdependence is currently stronger than we realise and through this project we hope to understand this more.”
The figures show that the communities’ spending habits were different.
Turkish Cypriots spent 17 times as much on shopping in the south, whereas Greek Cypriots spent over seven times as much on entertainment and over ten times as much on hotels.
“I expect a lot of this will be in the casinos, but because this is not detailed in the data we cannot be sure,” Apostolides said.
Ahmet Ozyigit Head of Research on the Turkish Cypriot side said “To an extent, the two communities are already functioning like a single market. For example, people are travelling to mitigate VAT differences, and this is leading to convergence.”
Depending on the outcome of the current negotiations, grants will be available to boost business cooperation and research to further interdependence, and to companies to conduct market research and learn more about requirements on both sides.
Crossings began in April 2003 when the Turkish side eased restrictions on freedom of movement.
The increase in crossings in 2008 was most likely due to the opening of the Ledra Street crossing in April 2008, which facilitated more pedestrian movement between the two sides
