You are here

Former govt.’s PEP ‘unfeasible and over-optimistic’

10/09/2003 12:27
The revised Pre-Accession Economic Program approved by the government on Tuesday contains a number of complaints against the economic policy of the former government, whose aims were deemed “unfeasible and over-optimistic”.

On the other hand, the aims of the State Budget 2004 are in line with the Pre-Accession Economic Program and “are realistic and feasible and may be supported with credibility against the European Union and the other International Organizations”.

With reference to the economic policy of the current government, the divergence in the state finances demands a “strict fiscal policy” to improve the fiscal indices and secure Cyprus’ credibility against the EU.

PEP

“The revised PEP concerns the period 2002-2006 and focuses on the deterioration of the state finances for 2002 and 2003 in relation to the previous PEP”. The PEP is based on a middle term program of macroeconomic policy, emphasizing the achievement of the goals on the fiscal and structural reforms.

The revised PEP has, therefore, adopted a feasible goal, which is the drop of the fiscal deficit to 2.2% of GDP in 2006.