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FinMin: Economy will tackle geopolitical tensions

08/03/2022 12:17

Standard and Poor’s rating action shows confidence that the Cypriot economy will tackle the consequences of the geopolitical tensions arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Finance Ministry said.

Late on Friday S&Ps affirmed Cyprus’ long-term rating to BBB- and maintained the economic outlook to positive, “despite the consequences of geopolitical developments from the crisis in Ukraine and the continued impact due to the Covid pandemic,” the Finance Ministry said in a press release issued Saturday.

“Despite acknowledging the sizeable link of the Cypriot economy with the Russian economy and the possible impact from the Russo-Ukrainian crisis and the associated EU sanctions, the agency endorses the view that the consequences will be limited to 2022 and the economy will return to growth rates in 2023 – 2025,” the Finance Ministry said, adding that in general, S&Ps “positively values the government’s policies that led to the improvement of the fiscal indices in 2021 and the broader course of the economy and that the reduction of the non-performing loans continued during the pandemic.”

Furthermore, the Ministry added that the agency pointed out the positive outlook reflects the possibility for an upgrade in the next 24 months under certain conditions, such as fiscal discipline and the associated decline of the public debt, maintaining health growth rate in the medium term and the further reduction of non-performing loans in the domestic banking system.