Disy president Annita Demetriou on Monday announced that she had appointed former fiscal council chairman Michalis Persianis to Disy’s shadow cabinet, taking over the “resilience and development” portfolio.

According to Disy, he will now be charged with “monitoring and evaluating policies which affect the long-term resilience and development prospects of the Cypriot economy” and “submitting specific recommendations on issues of fiscal responsibility, productivity, competitiveness, investments, and reforms”.

Demetriou said of Persianis’ appointment that “Cyprus needs a development model which will not be limited to today’s performance but will be able to withstand the crises and challenges of tomorrow”.

“It needs fiscal seriousness, to strengthen productivity and competitiveness, and to attract investment and reforms which create real and sustainable prospects for the future,” she said.

She added that Persianis “has a deep knowledge of the Cypriot economy, significant experience in fiscal policy, and a well-rounded technocratic approach”.

Persianis, meanwhile, said that “strengthening the resilience of the Cypriot economy and creating the conditions for sustainable development require consistency, seriousness, and well-founded choices”.

“I will work together with the members of the shadow cabinet to formulate specific and applicable proposals which will respond to the needs of today and the challenges of the coming years,” he said.

He had served as fiscal council chairman between 2022 and July this year, having previously worked as the Bank of Cyprus’ directorate of corporate affairs.

Prior to his corporate career, he was a journalist, working as a correspondent for American financial newspaper the Wall Street Journal and as editor-in-chief of economics and finance for the Cyprus edition of Greek newspaper Kathimerini.