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MoF promises tax cuts

16/05/2016 17:23
Cypriot Finance Minister Harris Georgiades pledged on Monday 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 at a press conference at the Ministry, after a meeting with a ruling party DISY delegation headed by DISY 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 definitively be abolished.

“If we continue on this steady course, this is our intention”, he said, adding that it should be taken as a given 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 election loomed thousands were hired in the public service increasing existing deficits which the taxpayer had to pay after the elections.

This is why, he noted, the government follows a policy of gradual relief measures on the basis of the economy`s capabilities.

Replying to a question on unemployment, the Minister explained 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.