In recent years, the Cypriot economy has faced intense challenges due to unpredictable external factors, such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the rapid increase in inflation.
Although these conditions have affected the Cypriot economy, the combination of government policies, the adaptability of the private sector and the attraction of foreign investments initially limited the recession.
It now moved the focus to achieve sustainable growth.
Indeed, just a few days ago, the European Commission predicted Cyprus’ GDP growth of 3.2% in 2022.
Although lower than earlier forecasts, this is still higher than the expected EU average.
Despite this positive forecast, the international environment remains uncertain and unstable.
In this unprecedented setting, we should intensify our efforts to attract new businesses and investments to Cyprus, creating new, highly specialised jobs and added value for our economy.
For this effort to succeed, all the stakeholders involved, public and private, must work together.
The efforts by Invest Cyprus, the state body that promotes the country’s business and investment policy abroad, are fully aligned with the government’s strategy, which aims at:
Attracting highly specialised international companies and highly skilled employees, primarily in the technology sector
Supporting foreign investment implementation processes in priority sectors for the economy, including green and digital transition
Maintaining the country’s competitiveness as an international centre for the provision of high-level financial services, especially to investment funds
Cyprus has implemented a new strategy to attract foreign companies and talent.
Invest Cyprus has adopted this since 2019, focusing mainly on high-tech, shipping, pharmaceutical, innovation and research and development companies.
The effort so far has been successful since, through coordinated actions together with the private sector, we have managed as a country to create a new and promising technology sector.
This has all the necessary ingredients to develop further with the ambition to become a self-sustaining ecosystem, which will be a destination of choice for international tech companies.
The task is not easy as many European countries claim primacy in attracting tech companies, and some countries are more advanced than us in this field.
However, at Invest Cyprus, we are confident that the international entrepreneurship sectors will continue to grow in the coming years, enhancing specialisation, creating new jobs, diversifying the education and labour fields, and boosting investment in new development projects.
The best place
We must remain focused on our goal by implementing sound development policies and reforms to realise “Vision 2035” for the Cypriot economy and society, encapsulating a simple but extremely meaningful proposition: “To make Cyprus the best place to live, work and do business”.
We recognise that improving the competitiveness and attractiveness of our country requires continuous monitoring of international developments, continuous review of the framework for attracting Foreign Direct Investments and the adoption of effective and targeted incentives.
It also requires the implementation of necessary reforms, including those agreed upon in the Cyprus Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).
As the authority responsible for guiding and assisting international investors, we listen to them and note problems that arise during their investment journey.
In close cooperation with ministries and other government agencies, we try to solve them to improve the investor experience.
We also focus on targeted international promotion activities and seek an active presence in major financial centres and target markets.
Recently, Invest Cyprus organised the 10th International Investment Awards.
This year, awards went to seven international companies that trusted Cyprus for investment or as a base for their activities.
These are companies with a worldwide presence whose annual turnover far exceeds the annual GDP of our country.
And yet, they all praised Cyprus as a destination that covers their investment and development plans.
At Invest Cyprus, we recognise there is considerable room for further improvement of our investment proposal.
However, we are confident that with the support and cooperation of the relevant ministries and working together with the private sector, the collective effort to attract even more businesses and investments to Cyprus will be successful.
By Evgenios Evgeniou, Chair Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency, Invest Cyprus
