Cyprus Quarterly Economic Monitor
Authors: G. Hardouvelis, I. Gkionis
Publication: May 2017, Year 2, Issue 2
Key points:
- The economy’s solid performance continued into the fourth quarter of 2016 and in the first months of 2017 with encouraging signs across most sectors, including the real estate sector
- Since mid-2016 Cypriot government bond yields have defied the upward trend of the European Periphery’s yields, thus Cyprus is now able to borrow at cheaper rates than Portugal in the international markets
- In March 2017, S&P upgraded the long-term sovereign rating of Cyprus Republic while Fitch and Moody’s have kept their earlier assessments unchanged
- NPLs continue declining, yet their level remains high. Cyprus is no longer the worst performing EU state in terms of NPEs, and banks are very active in addressing the problem, while showing mixed performance in the attainment of the central bank’s restructuring targets in the last quarter of 2016