Petrides says Cyprus fifth in absorption of EU Cohesion Funds

Cyprus ranks fifth among EU member states as regards absorption from the EU cohesion funds, Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides said on Saturday.

He added that the “challenge” now is to record the same results on the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF) in the next four years.

In a tweet, the minister, citing a data chart on EU payments by country for the period 2014-2020, noted that, according to the latest data on absorption of Cohesion Funds, Cyprus is in 5th place (out of 28 countries), “with a rate of around 90%, while EU average is 78%”.

“It is a political and technocratic challenge to have the same results on the Recovery Fund in the next four years”, the minister said.

In October, the European Commission endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Cyprus’ payment request for €85 million in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), while Cyprus lost €90 million in grants due to better-than-expected economic performance during the Covid-19 pandemic.