Georghiades: Q3 growth at 3.9%

Finance Minister Haris Georghiades said that the economy grew 3.9% in the third quarter of the year, equal to a revised second quarter growth rate of 3.9%, he told a parliamentary briefing.

The growth rate for 2015 was 2%, rising to 3% in 2016 and on target for a 4% rate this year, the minister told MPs, adding that Cyprus recorded the second highest growth rate in the Eurozone and one of the highest in the EU.

“This positive growth perspective derives from all the productive sectors of our economy,” Georghiades said, explaining that this was not the result of unreasonable spending but “of the good performance of the productive sectors of the economy and these productive forces we must continue to support to move forward”.

“We still have a way to go and there is no room for complacency, instead we should continue the effort with the same intensity”, he said.

The data follows figures released by Eurostat in Brussels that showed a seasonally adjusted GDP rise of 0.9% on a quarterly and 3.9% on an annual basis during the third quarter.

At the same time, Cystat said that Cyprus generated the highest 9-month budget surplus since 2008, the year it joined the Eurozone.

For the January-September period, the general government generated a surplus of EUR 429.2 mln, marking a 200% increase compared with the respective period of 2016 due to a significant rise in public revenue amid robust growth rates.

According to preliminary Cystat estimates, the third quarter general government generated a surplus of EUR 366.7 mln compared to a surplus of EUR 185.8 mln in the respective period last year.

Total revenue amounted EUR 2,023.2 mln, up 11.8% from the corresponding period of 2016, whereas total expenditure rose by 2.0% to EUR 1,656.5 mln.

Revenue from taxes rose by 10% year-on-year to EUR 769 mln. Revenue from VAT amounted to EUR 466.9 mln, an increase of 14%, whereas taxes on income and wealth amounted to EUR 633.2 mln, up 13.6% from the JanuarySeptember period of 2016.

Social contributions rose by 10.9% in the nine-month period to EUR 403.3 mln, revenue from sales of goods and services reached EUR 127.4 mln, an increase of 20.4% compared to the corresponding period of the last year, while social spending in January-September 2017 rose by 2.4% to EUR 584.1 mln, while compensation of employees, including imputed social contributions and pensions of civil servants, amounted to EUR 545.2 mln, an increase of 4.1%.