CYPRUS: Minister warns care needed in handling toxic loans and new health system

Cyprus Finance Minister Harris Georgiades warned the three outstanding issues that must be dealt with are elimination of non-performing loans, a pending court decision on civil service salary cuts and the sustainability of the national health service.

“We must handle responsibly some important outstanding issues, such as ridding the banking sector of non-performing loans for good, managing the court’s decision on public payroll and securing the sustainability of the National Health Scheme,” said Georgiades.

“But above all we have to continue the effort to adapt our economy to the conditions of our era and prepare our country for the changes to come”, he added.

Georgiades was speaking at his fifth and final annual lecture at the University of Cyprus, before stepping down as minister later this year.

He said, Cyprus need to increase per capita income to the European average by preserving and strengthening traditional sectors of the economy and encouraging the development of new ones to expand the productive base.

“What is even more important is to prepare the economy and the country mainly through investing in education for the massive rearrangement that the digital revolution is rapidly bringing about.

Rapid technological developments will create opportunities but also major challenges for the labour market in any developed economy.”

The Finance Minister said that during its second term the government was focusing on promoting reforms, it has budgeted hundreds of millions for e-government and created new structures and allocated significant resources to research and innovation.

He also noted that the Government has brought before parliament bills providing for reforms in the judicial system, the local government, and establishing a new supervisory authority for insurances and welfare funds as well as a Ministry for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy.