Georgiades says recovery sustainable, still facing risks

Finance minister Harris Georgiades warned that economic recovery is at risk as Cyprus has not completely healed the wounds of the 2013 financial crisis, with unemployment, bad debts and government debt remaining at high levels.

“My basic concern is related to the risk of being once again led on the road of irresponsibility, carried away by populism and emotions,” the finance minister told delegates at the Nicosia Economic Congress on Tuesday. “Irresponsible populism may risk everything achieved through sacrifices”.

The finance minister said that the banking system has stabilised and is “to a large extent consolidated even as important challenges remain,” while depositor confidence increased, allowing the lifting of capital controls two years ago and the full repayment of emergency liquidity by the Bank of Cyprus with interest rates at record lows.

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.