Cyprus to regain the ground lost due to Covid

Cyprus will among the few countries in the EU to regain the ground lost in 2020 due the Covid pandemic, Finance Minister told CNA, stressing that all EU member states continue with a much more targeted support policy as fiscal buffers are not limitless.

Speaking to CNA from Slovenia, where he is attending the eurozone Finance Ministers` meeting, Petrides said that one of the meeting’s conclusions is that “fiscal and monetary policies implemented so far have yielded results and that’s why most of the Eurozone countries are revising their projections over economic growth in 2021.”

The Cyprus Finance Minister said he told the meeting that “Cyprus will be among the countries that will revise projections and one of the few member-states which are expected to cover the ground lost in 2020.”

But Petrides said that the common position expressed is that more work is necessary as uncertainty remains high.

“With regard to support measures, in most member states public support has been contained to large degree and the remaining measures are much more targeted as no state has limitless fiscal room,” he added.

Concluding, Petrides said the Eurozone Finance Ministers highlighted the need for policy coordination.

Hit by the Covid pandemic, the Cypriot economy contracted by 5.1% of GDP in 2021. Following a contraction by an annual 2.1% in the first quarter of this year, the economy jumped by 12.9% in the second quarter, with the Finance Ministry expected to revise its earlier projection significantly upwards in view of the 2022 state budget.