CYPRUS: Government to pass benefits from recovery on to taxpayers

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said that the government will pass on to taxpayers any benefits deriving from the recovery of the economy, while maintaining at the same time a responsible fiscal policy.

 
Speaking after a meeting with a ruling party DISY delegation headed by leader Averof Neofytou, Georgiades said that government policies are now bearing fruit and recalled statistical data according to which the Cypriot economy has had the fastest growth rate in the Eurozone during the first quarter of this year and the third highest in the EU.
The Minister also said that a special contribution imposed on the salaries of public servants and private sector employees since 2011 will now be abolished.
“If we continue on this steady course, this is our intention”, he said, adding that the Ministry of Finance “will be in a position to propose more relief measures so that citizens, employees, taxpayers will be able to experience more fully the economic recovery.”
Replying to criticism that the government has been announcing measures ahead of the parliamentary elections on Sunday, Georgiades pointed out that in the past whenever elections loomed thousands were hired in the public service increasing existing deficits which the taxpayer had to pay after the elections.
This is why, he said, the government follows a policy of gradual relief measures on based on the economy’s capabilities.
Replying to a question on unemployment, the Minister said that establishing growth will in turn lead to the creation of new jobs and new opportunities.
“It is not by chance that the growth rate and the rate of unemployment reduction go hand in hand,” he said.
In previous years unemployment in Cyprus recorded the greatest increase rate, today it records the greatest drop rate, he added.