NICOSIA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The economy of Cyprus is projected to grow around 6 percent in inflation-adjusted terms in 2022, Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides told Parliament on Friday as he presented the country's budget for 2023.
Petrides said that despite the 2013 economic crisis, Cyprus's bailout by the Eurogroup, the coronavirus pandemic and geopolitical instabilities, he was submitting "a balanced budget and delivering a healthy and robust economy."
He said that public debt, which exceeded 104 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) as a result of the bailout and the need to support the economy during the coronavirus pandemic, was brought down to 89.3 percent of GDP this year.
The unemployment rate, which had reached 17 percent at its peak, is expected to fall to 7 percent this year and to 5 percent by 2025 as the economy will continue to grow.
He said that the real growth of the economy in the next three years is expected to be around 3 percent each year, with an additional growth of 7 percent resulting from the influx of 4.4 billion euros (4.63 billion U.S. dollars) in European Union (EU) funding by the end of 2027. This equals around 20 percent of Cyprus's GDP.
President Nicos Anastasiades announced earlier that Cyprus received on Friday the first tranche -- 85 million euros -- from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Cohesion Fund.
Anastasiades said that the economic impact of the government's "Cyprus Tomorrow" plan will total 4.4 billion euros. It provides for 58 reform projects and 75 investment actions, constituting "the largest reform and development intervention" since Cyprus became independent in 1960.
These relate to public health and civil protection; green transition; strengthening the resilience and competitiveness of the economy; digital transformation; employment and social protection; and training and human resources skills development. (1 euro = 1.05 U.S. dollar)
