Kazamias – Cyprus – Economy

Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias has expressed Tuesday his satisfaction for the consensus shown last week for the approval, by the House of Representatives, of the first package of austerity measures aiming at fiscal consolidation.

Kazamias referred to the Government`s decision to start giving information abroad to rating agencies, banks and investors concerning the current economic situation in Cyprus and the tragedy occurred on July 11, when a munitions cache comprising 98 containers exploded at the “Evangelos Florakis“ Naval Base, on the southern coast, near Limassol.

Finance Minister said that after the approval of the first package, a second one will be promoted so that the deficit of the Budget for 2012 not to be higher than 2% with perspective in 2013 to be 0%.

Specifically, the House approved last week, six bills and one proposal which included a two-year (instead of three year) sliding scale contribution for civil servants and employees in the broader public sector earning over 1.500 euros.

A permanent contribution from the pension funds of public sector and broader public sector employees was set to 3 per cent from 2.5 of the gross income after a proposal by opposition parties the Democratic Rally, the Democratic Party and the European Party.

The package of austerity measures, aims to save the government 750 million euros, and comes after a week of intense negotiations with the social partners and political parties.

The House will reconvene on September 15