Cyprus reports large budget surplus

Thursday April 17th , 2008

Cyprus's government has revealed that the Mediterranean island produced a 3.3 per cent budget surplus last year.

According to the finance ministry, this is an unusually high figure which has resulted from a strong economic performance, reports the Cyprus Mail.

Official data showed that gross domestic product on the island rose to £12.5 billion in 2007, while this figure is expected to increase to £13.2 billion by the end of this year.

This trend was attributed to the strong performance of its real estate market, which resulted in the government benefiting from various taxes on property.

Commenting on the figures, finance minister Charilaos Stavrakis said: "A 3.3 per cent surplus is the result of buoyant economic activity."

He added that although this year's surplus is likely to be much lower, meeting its projection of 0.5 per cent would be an "important achievement".

Cyprus recently became a member of the single European currency, which takes the overall number of countries in the eurozone up to 15.