Cyprus-Forum.com

[Cap]

And some good news.

Cyprus’s economy grew for the first time since mid-2011 in the three months to March, expanding by a revised 1.5 percent quarter-on-quarter, data showed on Tuesday.

On an annual basis, economic output rose by 0.2 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2014, when the economy contracted by 1.8 percent.

Cyprus is more than halfway through a three-year economic overhaul agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund in return for a 10 billion euro ($11 billion) bailout in 2013. It is due to complete the programme in early 2016.

The European Commission’s spring economic forecast released in May predicted Cyprus’s economy would contract by 0.5 percent in 2015 before returning to 1.4 percent growth next year.

The quarter-on-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figure for January-March was marginally lower than the 1.6 percent expansion that the statistics department estimated in May, but the year-on-year figure was the same.

Growth in the first quarter of 2015 was focused on trade, the hospitality industry and professional services, the statistics department said. Manufacturing and construction output shrank.

http://in-cyprus.com/cyprus-economy-gro ... -mid-2011/