Cypriot economy to grow 2.7 pct in 2016

NICOSIA (AP) – Cyprus’s Central Bank chief says the island nation’s economy will grow by slightly more than 2.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2016 and will hover at around the same levels for the next two years. Chrystalla Georghadji told the Parliament in Nicosia yesterday that growth is mainly being driven by robust domestic consumption, investments and exports. Unemployment dropped to 12.1 percent in the second quarter of 2016, down from a high of 16.1 percent in 2014. She said public debt is projected to drop to 96 percent of GDP in 2019 from a peak of 109 percent in 2015. Cyprus emerged in March from a three-year, multimillioneuro rescue program that included a seizure of savings over 100,000 euros in its two biggest lenders to prop up a wobbly banking sector. Fitch said, also noting that Wind Hellas has a joint venture with Vodafone that allows for both cost sharing and network sharing in the development of their 2G/3G mobile network. “These factors are offset by the significant challenges the firm and the Greek telecommunications market have experienced since the Greek debt crisis, and the strong competition provided by OTE and Vodafone,” Fitch stated. years yesterday, hiking its benchmark rate by a more-than-expected 50 basis points as concerns about a tumbling lira eclipsed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s calls for cheap credit. Erdogan, who has described himself as an “enemy” of interest rates and chastised banks for what he says is the high cost of credit, wants the central bank to lower rates to spur growth. Investors have long argued the Turkish central bank needs to tighten, citing the inflation risk posed by the weaker currency. Yesterday’s “rate hikes show the extent to which domestic and external conditions have deteriorated, forcing the central bank’s hand,” Nicholas Spiro, a partner at consultancy Lauressa Advisory in London.