Neophytou: Cyprus needs more IT programmers

The global and Cypriot markets need IT programmers and people in tech, Disy leader and presidential candidate Averof Neophytou said on Wednesday.

He was speaking after a visit to the offices of Murex Fintech, a French company that opened a branch in Cyprus in 2020.

According to Neophytou, Murex employs over 140 people on the island, with salaries exceeding €55,000 a year.

“They are looking to employ Cypriots, but unfortunately there are not many qualified in the professions of the present and future,” he said, highlighting the importance of promoting jobs in tech among young people and students.

“We are in the fourth industrial revolution,” he said. “What the global and Cypriot market needs are programmers, and people in technology.”

Neophytou said that in 2021, Cyprus boasted the largest increase in foreign investments worldwide, while in 2022 it was among the 10 countries with the largest foreign investments, proportional to its size.

“We have over 200 technology companies in Cyprus, with more than 15,000 employees, all exceptionally highly paid,” he said.

“We can build an even better Cyprus, relying also on the Recovery and Resilience Fund,” he added, but for that to happen, the country’s economic stability needs to be ensured.

“Without economic stability, no one will choose our place for their investments,” he said.

The presidential candidate said he was confident that under his leadership the country could be steered towards “the steady path of development, with further opportunities for foreign investment, necessary to strengthen the economy, but also the opening of high paying jobs”.