ECONOMY: Cyprus GDP grew by 3.9% in Q4 2018

Cyprus’ economy expanded by 3.9% GDP in the fourth quarter of 2018 on an annual basis, racking up 16 quarters of consecutive growth, official data showed Thursday.

Compared with the previous quarter, GDP grew by 1.1% in Q4 2018, up from the Q3 rate of 0.8%, while based on seasonally and working day adjusted data, annual GDP growth rate in real terms is estimated at 3.9%.

The annual growth rate was slightly up from the 3.7% GDP recorded in Q3 (July-September).

GDP growth rate is mainly attributed to hotels and restaurants, trade, construction, manufacturing, professional, scientific and technical activities and support services, Cystat said.

However, the Financial and Insurance sector had negative growth.

The Finance Ministry tweeted that the Cyprus economy “remains among the fastest growing in the euro area”.

The rate of growth for the whole year is estimated at 3.9% the same rate as 2017.

Seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU28 during the fourth quarter of 2018, compared with the previous quarter, according to a flash estimate published by Eurostat.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 1.2% in the euro area and by 1.4% in the EU28, after +1.6% and +1.8% respectively in Q3.