President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, expressed on Saturday his satisfaction over S and P's outlook review of Cyprus economy, which confirms the creditworthiness of the Republic of Cyprus at the investment grade "BBB" and upgrades the outlook from stable to positive.
The President said that "we will continue to walk the path of responsibility, away from populism, away from approaches that may sound good to some but at the same time put our country at risk".
The Minister of Finance, Makis Keravnos, noted, in a written statement, that the Government will continue to support the economic activity in view of the challenges it has to face, commenting on the Standard and Poor's decision.
Specifically, the Minister stated that "the Government will continue to support the economic activity in view of the challenges it has to face (continuation of the war in Ukraine, inflationary pressures) in a responsible manner both in terms of growth and employment (control of unemployment) as well as public finances".
In order to achieve this goal, according to Keravnos, "the Government supports the Cypriot economy and society in a targeted and flexible manner and, at the same time, promotes the appropriate financial plans that will allow the maximum possible utilization of the offered European programs and funds, and especially the financial support through the Recovery and Resilience Plan".
The Minister said that the rating agency justifies its decision, "on the basis of the strong performance of the Cypriot economy in the last decade, the diversified economy which proved to be relatively resistant to external shocks, as well as the expectation that current trends are supportive to the country's creditworthiness, despite the vulnerabilities still observed in the economic, fiscal and external environment".
Additionally, Keravnos noted that "the agency points out that the positive outlook reflects its view that the macroeconomic environment continues to normalize since the financial crisis that broke out in 2012-2013, the new Government seems to be achieving the maintenance of stable fiscal surpluses in the next years, and that significant progress has been achieved in the banking sector in terms of reducing non-performing loans despite their high stock compared to countries of the same level".
He also said that "the agency emphasizes that the Cypriot economy will record an economic growth rate of 2.4% during 2023" and "expects that the medium-term economic growth rate of the Cypriot economy will fluctuate slightly below 3% supported by further expansion of tourism and efforts to diversify the economy in the field of technology".
"Also, it mentions the successful implementation of the structural reforms in the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Plan as the key to the further development of the Cypriot economy", the Minister of Finance concluded.
Source: Cyprus News Agency