The EU has published a paper on economic forecast on Cyprus for Spring 2019 and in its report said Cyprus’ economic expansion is set to remain robust, driven by domestic demand, but risks are tilted to the downside. Inflation is forecasted to remain subdued and budget is expected to return to surplus with public debt to steadily decline from 2019 onwards.
Cyprus continues to enjoy a remarkable post-crisis rebound with real GDP growth of 3.9% in 2018.
The paper described investments in cyprus forecasted to be robust, with overall economic activity coming from ongoing tourism-related projects. Half of all transactions in residential construction driven by foreign demand, supported by the Citizenship by Investment programme.
A major scale of investments arise from ship registrations.
The paper described tourism-linked services is clouded by the recent bankruptcies of several airlines servicing Cyprus, slowing global demand, fierce competition, and high Brexit related uncertainty (UK citizens account for more than a third of all tourists) and warns that heavy reliance on foreign funding also leaves Cyprus vulnerable to external developments.
Cyprus has already received excess over 6.6 billion euros through the citizenship investment scheme. From May 15th, the council of ministers implemented new measures were implemented strengthening the cypriot citizenship scheme which include requirement of schengen visa, increased holding of property for five years and addition donation of EUR 150,000 for the development of Cyprus. All applicants had to pass due diligence checks and have no criminal record
Cyprus remained the second best citizenship by investment scheme in Best citizenships rankings behind Malta. Currently Cyprus remains the most expensive citizenship schemes in the world requiring over 2 million euros.
You can read the paper here
