Missed opportunities on budgets and tax reform
In recent days the government of President Nikos Christodoulides and MPs approved the government budgets and a tax reform. In doing so they have missed real opportunities to support policies ...
Articles
Urgent need to overhaul tax reform
Members of the House of Representatives should not rush to approve the questionable ‘tax reform’ proposed by the government. This is because its contents are largely not compatible with achieving ...
Cyprus: questions on deficient budgets
It has been business as usual with the preparation of the Cyprus government budgets for 2026 to 2028 with little attention being paid to addressing current and future policy challenges, including narrowing ...
Cyprus: wasteful and irresponsible use of financial resources
The Cyprus government is generating large surpluses and accumulating deposits at banks reaching €6.8 billion at the end of September 2025.
And Cyprus banks held cash and cash balances totaling €19.6 billion or ...
Urgent need for property tax reform
There are compelling reasons why the property sector in Cyprus should be subject to greater taxation and, moreover, should be a key part of the forthcoming tax reform.
Firstly, in ...
Spiralling foreign purchases of Cyprus properties
Data for the years 2022 to 2024 and the first seven months of 2025 indicate that the purchases of Cyprus real estate by foreigners are rapidly increasing.
This frenzy in buying Cyprus properties ...
A more regressive tax system
There are three main criticisms of the proposed tax reform.
First, it is not directed at meeting the medium to longer-term government revenue and expenditure needs of Cyprus and is ...
A questionable allocation of financial resources
Cyprus’ GDP is growing rapidly and banks are making big profits, but is the welfare of most people benefiting from such developments? The answer is a definite no as the ...
Government promises lack substantive action
In addition to trying to solve the overarching Cyprus problem, governments have faced many interrelated challenges, including ensuring the adequate functioning of physical infrastructure systems, implementing reforms required for EU ...
Proposed tax reform is blatantly unfair
President Nikos Christodoulides has stated repeatedly that the proposed tax reform will “aim at reducing the tax burden on families and working people, modernising the economy, and encouraging competitiveness”.
However, ...
What will cause the next financial crisis?
The bursting of interrelated credit and property bubbles has caused financial crises in the US and certain European countries, including Cyprus, in recent decades.
The epicentre of the global financial ...
How the top 10 per cent dominate Cyprus’ economy
The rich are having a disproportionately large impact on economic activity, spending and saving behaviour throughout the world. The wealthy with their political influence and control over financial resources are ...
Cyprus: falling real incomes and cost-of-living pressures
In Cyprus the financial crisis of 2012-13 resulted in a loss of wealth for many households owing to the “deposit haircut” and the collapse of prices of bank shares and ...
Performance of Cyprus banks continues to be inadequate
In 2024 Cyprus banks continued to amass very large profits. However, their self-serving behaviour, particularly in conduct of interest rate and lending policies, has meant that banks fell far short in ...
Cyprus: are government policies making people worse-off?
Government policies in allocating resources implicitly promote consumerism, mass tourism and property development as the key drivers of economic growth
President Nikos Christodoulides and the Finance Minister Makis Keravnos claim ...
Profound implications of a Europe rearmed
Given Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the broader threat that President Putin’s regime poses to Europe and the prospect that Ukraine and America’s Nato allies may ...
Trump’s criticisms of EU create mounting fiscal policy challenges
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance of the new US administration have recently levelled pointed criticisms on the policies and democratic values of Europe.
They have criticised European ...
President’s address: empty economic and social policies
In presenting his ‘State of the Republic’ address on Cyprus on January 29, President Nikos Christodoulides stressed that the goal of the policy actions to be taken in 2025 would be “to ...
Urgent need for decent tax reform and administration
The current Cyprus government is failing in addressing interrelated key economic, social and environmental issues as well as corruption by not implementing rational reforms and measures.
It is just resorting ...
Government budgets continue to serve the few and neglect the people
Government budgets are the main instrument of economic policy that determine how resources are to be allocated and collected from various interest groups. On Wednesday, MPs voted to approve the ...
Cyprus banks unwilling to fund development
By taking fixed deposits at the second lowest interest rate in the euro area at an average of 1.8 per cent and lending part of these funds at the third highest ...
Cyprus government and banks selfishly hoard wealth
In the immediate years after the Cyprus financial crisis of 2012/2013 there was a compelling need to stabilise government finances with austerity and banks with credit restraint, however, such policies have ...
Self-serving Cyprus budgets yet again
The Cyprus government’s budgets for 2025 to 2027 presented to the House of Representatives in October 2024 constitute business as usual with just a mechanical updating of the government finance estimates for 2024.
...
Open letter to MPs: extraordinary taxation on bank profits
A meeting of the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on October 7, 2024 discussed the proposal of the general secretary of Akel, Stefanos Stefanou, for the levying of a temporary ...