The President of the Democratic Alarm and candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Averof Neophytou, made a statement in the House of Representatives.
Mr. Neofytou stated that "Our purpose is to support our fellow citizens. A strong economy is the vehicle for us to be able to support the weaker social strata, to strengthen the private sector through incentives and also to relieve the middle class through tax exemptions".
Such a statement:
We are entering an era characterized by uncertainty. In a new economic cycle with many risks full of minefields, with high energy prices, with high interest rates and we must remain serious about managing the economy. The recent UK examples are well known. No matter how strong an economy is, just one wobble from the helmsman leads to financial mishaps.
We have significant positive results in the Cypriot economy with strong rates of economic growth and we are accused of leaving a cushion. Yes, we very consciously leave a strong cushion because we know that even more difficult times are coming and we want to use this cushion in the most difficult times to be able to support those who are really in need. We could easily spend those leftovers and the pillow recklessly. We would satisfy many and for me it would be an easy election campaign. We were not taught to behave this way. For us, a strong economy is not an end in itself. It is our goal to support our fellow citizens. A strong economy is the vehicle to be able to support the weaker social strata, to strengthen the private sector through incentives and also to relieve the middle class through tax exemptions.
I want to close with what I firmly believe. We can, I can guarantee continued economic growth. At a time when Europe in 2023 will enter recession with great certainty and confidence I can address the Cypriot people and tell them and I tell my fellow citizens that we will have strong growth in 2023 and 2024 and Cyprus will be one of the countries which will continue the positive rates of economic growth. But I will also say something that we can make our Cyprus one of the best countries in terms of evaluation in the whole of Europe.
The goal of Cyprus being an AAA economy is not unattainable. In the next five years we can very well reduce the public debt to 30%. Already from 2020 to 2022 we reduced the public debt by 26% in the midst of a pandemic and in the midst of the energy crisis. Do you know what it means to have a AAA economy with a public debt of only 30% of GDP? It means at least half a billion less installments and less interest. We will give these to citizens, in development policy, in social policy, in education, in health. We know what it means for our country to be AAA, to attract much more investment. And in these excellent results we had in 2021 and 2022 with our country rising in the foreign investment index from 68th to 18th is a huge success and in the 1st half of 2022 our country in the 10 best countries in the world in terms of regarding foreign investments. We help society through the development of the economy. When the economy develops, the state has more income to have more to give and support the citizens.