President: public deficit will be under control in three years

CYPRUS can, in three years, bring its public deficit under three per cent and comparisons with Greece are unfortunate, President Demetris Christofias said yesterday.

“We are not in the same position as Greece. I wish Greece was in our position,” the president said during the Cyprus Exports Award ceremony in Nicosia.

He said it was not right to compare the Cypriot economy and its condition with Greece’s economy.

“The only thing we achieve is to create more anxiety to the business world and the common folk,” Christofias said.

“We can, in two to three years, cut the public deficit to under three per cent if we take the right measures. I wish that for Greece, but such comparisons are unfortunate.”

He added that his administration has prepared a package of measures and soon it will open a dialogue with the social partners.

He urged the people and the unions to remember the aftermath of the 1974 Turkish invasion “and the collective sacrifices done to repair the economy and embark on an upward course,” Christofias said.

The Cypriot economy remained stuck in recession in the fourth quarter of last year, flash estimates showed last week.

A surge in government spending in the last quarter of 2009 helped reduce the rate of quarterly decline in gross domestic product to 0.3 per cent, compared with a contraction of 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, the statistics department said.

Central Bank Governor Athanasios Orphanides also said this week that a comparison between the Greece and Cyprus was not warranted but the government should take measures as quickly as possible.