Cyprus GDP deficit at 1.8%

The Ministry of Finance forecasts that the fiscal deficit for the first five months of the year was 1.8% of GDP compared to a surplus of 0.3% of GDP in the corresponding period in 2008, exceeding the initial estimates of the Ministry.
The Finance Ministry recently insisted that the GDP deficit would remain below 3%, in sharp contrast with an IMF forecast, expecting the deficit to hit 3.9% of GDP for 2009.