AKEL ON THE ECONOMY

 

Statement by Stavros Evagorou, Deputy Parliamentary Spokesman AKEL -Left- New Forces on the economy

 

The Memorandum one-way path which the government is stubbornly leading us to is a dead-end policy and simultaneously catastrophic.

 

We are being driven with mathematical precision into the abyss. Besides, this is what the key indicators of the economy also demonstrate.

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The Cyprus economy is experiencing the longest recession since the 1974 tragedy of invasion and occupation; a recession which is exceeds the 8% in 2013 with another 8% more in 2014 according to reliable estimates.

 

This year unemployment is rising sharply surpassing 17%, while estimates for 2014 show that it will rise to levels beyond 20%. This is a truly depressing figure.

 

One after another SMBs are closing down.

 

It is therefore startling that based on these figures the government and the Troika have concluded that everything is progressing well.

 

How can they say that progress is being registered at the same time we have the deepest recession throughout the whole of Europe?

 

How can they say that we are making very good progress when unemployment rose by 40% compared to last March?

 

How can they perceive any progress when thousands of poor compatriots, pensioners, large families, single parents and the unemployed are experiencing a daily economic misery?

 

How can we be doing well at the same time when the banks are broke and are unable to give loans to the people and the economy?

 

How can they expect stabilization and recovery with reduced budgets and cuts in development by 20%?

 

The government must finally realize that all the negative consequences our people are suffering are not coincidental. On the contrary, they are an integral part of the vicious cycle in which we have entered. The extreme austerity policies that are being implemented lead the economy into a recession. Recession leads to further cuts which in turn exacerbate the recession even more. This is a deadlock senseless policy which perpetuates the crisis leading to a social nightmare.

 

Society must seek alternative policies and paths for the exit from the yoke of the Memorandum; policies and paths that will lead to growth and social prosperity.