ECONOMY: Cyprus GDP grew by 3.5% in Q1 2019

Cyprus’ economy expanded by 3.5% in the first quarter of 2019 on an annual basis, racking up 17 quarters of consecutive growth, official data showed Wednesday.

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Compared with the previous quarter, GDP grew by 0.9% in Q1 2019, the same rate as Q4, while based on seasonally and working day adjusted data, annual GDP growth rate in real terms is estimated at 3.5%.

The annual growth rate was slightly down from the 3.9% GDP recorded in Q4 (October-December).

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”.

Seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.4% in the euro area (EA19), by 0.5% in the EU28  during Q1 2019, compared with the previous quarter.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 1.2% in the euro area and 1.5% in the EU28.