He estimated that 2021 will be a clearly better year for the economy with a strong recovery, as well as that there will be an explosion in travel, he expressed yesterday (7/12) in the Business Hour show of DigitalTv, which is being prepared by the team of Brief, the Vice President of DISY, Haris Georgiadis.
In particular, when asked to refer to the risks for the Cypriot economy in the new year, Mr. Georgiadis expressed the assessment that in 2021 "we will have a clearly better year. We will have a recovery, a strong recoveryHe added, noting that "the difficult year was 2020".
Of course, he pointed out, "we are in uncharted waters", Emphasizing that"the dangers are obviously to prolong the pandemic worldwide». However, he added, "these are not the indications».
As he explained, "Vaccinations are starting now. This development is extremely important and comes earlier than we expected. "International markets, the stock markets around the world have reacted positively, precisely because they see the countdown to the pandemic first and the recovery of the world economy right after," he said.
This, according to Mr. Georgiadis, also applies to the Cypriot economy. That is, he estimated, "The Cypriot economy will be positively affected by the resumption of economic activity internationally. We will have tourism in 2021, maybe not from the beginning of the season, maybe not in the 4 million we were in 2019, but there will be tourism, the air transport will work. In short, it will be a much better year than 2020", He underlined.
At the same time, he stressed that to ensure this recovery “we must be fundamentally responsible. In other words, to continue the effort, not to inflict unnecessary blows on the country's economy on our own, and I am referring as an example to the possibility of the budget being voted or not ", he added.
Asked what will happen if the citizens still do not want to travel even if they are vaccinated or in the end the forecasts do not meet reality and if there is an alternative plan, the Vice President of DISY estimated that, "if people do not want to travel despite the end of the pandemic, of course we will have a problem and there is no possibility for the Cypriot state to continue for the second and third year to support the sectors of the economy without having this important sector which is tourism. And it's not just tourism. If people do not travel, it is not only tourism that we will lose. It's the services, it's the real estate sector, it's everything. "So, if the economy is not working properly, if world trade is not going on and if there is no human trafficking, we will certainly have a problem," he said, adding, however, that this was unlikely to happen.
«My intuition and some information I have is that there will be an explosion in travel. That is, after a whole year with virtually no international air travel and travel, it is estimated that there will be an explosion in travel, both business and tourism. That is why we see airlines, travel agencies, cruise companies, airport and port management companies in international stock markets recorded a significant increase in recent weeks, because all estimates are that the world will not remain closed in its shell after the end of the pandemic, but will travel"He added.
Asked if Cyprus would be able to take advantage of this, he said yes. "I think yes. And this is related to the management that has been done so far. THE Management and dealing with the negative financial impact was, I believe, effective. I am not saying that there was no cost, I am not saying that there were no losses. Of course, they existed all over the world and in Cyprus, but we managed with fast, timely and efficient moves, with moves of substantial scope, to keep the economy upright. There has been no massive collapse of productive sectors of the economy. They kept. There were no mass layoffs", pointed out.
Comment that there is one feeling of uncertainty, mainly from the hotel and catering industry, and asked to assess whether these companies can be easily reactivated, Mr. Georgiadis said that "yes, I find it relatively easy for them to be reactivated on a basic condition».
As he said, "every economy operates on the basis of expectations. If expectations are uncertain no economy can work. No company will make plans, no company will employ staff. No company is going to enter the production process. And that was the situation that characterized 2020. But I think that 2021 starts with much more positive expectations. Vaccination has started. I estimate that from January, February, the sectors of tourism, hotels, will start taking reservations. In other words, the companies in the sector will see that reservations are coming for July, for August, in September, in October. This will automatically reduce uncertainty and create positive expectations in the economy"He added.
That is why, he stressed, "I appreciate that we will have a clearly improved financial year in 2021 with a fairly strong recovery and we will largely cover the lost ground of 2020».
At the same time referring to possibility of a vote against the state budget, the Vice President of DISY indicated that "Our bad self is the one that can hinder the recovery of the Cypriot economy. "If we start playing political games with the economy again," he suggested.
It is worth noting that, Mr. Georgiadis during his intervention yesterday in the show Business Hour stressed, among other things, that "DISY will try to join forces with other parties and other MPs in order to pass the state budget of 2021».
Source: Brief