President announces tax breaks for growth, balanced budget by 2016

Cyprus is on course to achieve a speedy economic recovery within the framework of the 10 bln euro bailout agreement concluded last April with international lenders, and that the aim is to have a balanced budget by 2016 and even a primary budget surplus, according to President Nicos Anastasiades.
Addressing the 52nd general assembly of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC), Anastasiades expressed his government’s commitment to implement the bailout agreement.
He also announced a series of tax relief measures for businesses, in an effort to assist the economic recovery.
The tax breaks include a 25% rebate in taxable income for payroll, in case of new hirings, as well as a 100% tax relief until 2016 for the acquisition of fixed assets related to innovation, research, ICT and renewable energy.
Anastasiades added that a series of incentives will be announced to encourage the repatriation of overseas capital.
The President said that the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Cyprus are locked in efforts to lift all the controls on transactions with an aim to eliminate all remaining restrictions soon and revive the business and services sector that is suffering because of these strict controls.
“Times are extremely crucial for our country”, Anatasiades said, adding that collective action was necessary in order to implement the terms of the bailout agreement.
The goal, he said, was to find the way out of the financial crisis, reinstate trust in the country’s financial system and achieve growth.