We hate to be repeating ourselves, but one of the wisest choices President Christofias made was to appoint Charilaos Stavrakis as his Minister of Finance, also known as keeper of the public purse.
In order to implement the communist leader’s pledge for welfare benefits, particularly to the low-income group, as is the case of the 14th bonus pension for Easter, Stavrakis would have to find money from somewhere. We know for a fact that he does not have a magic hat to pull out rabbits, pigeons and millions of euros.
So, the next logical step was to get out a shopping list of non-essential projects and delay their development, if not shelf them for good, until such time as the global economic turmoil blows over and we miss (hopefully) the viral international recession.
Apart from the occasional road works, school repairs and ongoing projects, the previous administration did not really deploy any major development, keeping the lid on public spending. Even the BOT (build-operate-transfer) method helps keep the state budget in check as it does not cost the taxpayer any more to get a new airport or marina. But you still have to pay out of your nose in airport fees and taxes if you intend to travel.
So, some of the mega plans, such as the politically-driven Paphos-Polis highway (that would have been the most expensive stretch of asphalt in Cyprus) or the ambitious Cultural Centre (at a time when money was not spent on developing culture and the arts) should be the first to go.
These two projects alone, would save the state more than 300 mln euros, enough to pay welfare benefits and still have money left over to repair existing roads and develop the arts and culture in order to cultivate a new standard as regards quality of life.
Who needs a brand new highway in an area that does not justify heavy traffic, when resurfacing and widening roads will do the trick? Why waste millions on a cultural centre when you have municipal theatres in all towns that are barely making ends meet, even with state subsidies?
We say, “GO FOR IT, CHARILAE†and urge the Minister to keep the budget in balance. Focus your efforts on encouraging foreign direct investments to
And while you’re at it, see if you can encourage some of the ‘non-domiciles’ in the U.K. to move to Cyprus, as they will be slapped with the GBP 30,000 tax very soon.
