Council of ministers discussed the strategic framework for fiscal policy

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades submitted, to the Council of Ministers the 2019-2021 Strategic Framework for Fiscal Policy (SFFP) outlining the government’s basic guidelines on fiscal policy for the next three years.

The document kick starts the process for the drafting of the 2019 state budget and the Medium Term Budgetary Framework for the period of 2019-2021.

The SFFP, approved by the Council of Ministers, defines the ceiling for the state total expenditure and the proposed distribution of the state spending to the Ministries.

Based on the fiscal responsibility and budget system law, each Ministry will be called to draft its own budget, based on the expenditure ceilings defined by the SFFP.

The Cypriot economy according to the Finance Ministry’s medium term projection is estimated to expand by 3.8% in 2018 and will decelerate in the following years, with growth rate estimated at 3.6%, 3.2% and 3.0% in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.