Overview: The Greek Cypriot economy is small, diversified, and prosperous. Industry contributes 16% to GDP and employs 29% of the labor force, while the service sector contributes 60% to GDP and employs 57% of the labor force. An average 6.8% rise in real GDP between 1986 and 1990 was temporarily checked in 1991, because of the adverse effects of the Gulf War on tourism. Economic growth surged again in 1992, bolstered by strong foreign and domestic demand. As the economy gained momentum, however, it began to overheat; inflation reached 6.5%. The economy has likely recorded a sharp drop in growth in 1993, due to the recession in Western Europe, Cyprus' main trading partner, but probably will pick up again in 1994. The Turkish Cypriot economy has less than one-third the per capita GDP in the south. Because it is recognized only by Turkey, it has had much difficulty arranging foreign financing, and foreign firms have hesitated to invest there. The economy remains heavily dependent on agriculture, which employs more than one-quarter of the workforce. Moreover, because the Turkish lira is legal tender, the Turkish Cypriot economy has suffered the same high inflation as mainland Turkey. To compensate for the economy's weakness, Turkey provides direct and indirect aid to nearly every sector; financial support has reached about one-third of Turkish Cypriot GDP.

National product:
Greek area: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $6.7 billion (1992)
Turkish area: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $550 million (1992)

National product real growth rate:
Greek area: 8.2% (1992)
Turkish area: 7.3% (1992)

National product per capita:
Greek area: $11,390 (1992)
Turkish area: $3,130 (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
Greek area: 6.5% (1992)
Turkish area: 63.4% (1992)

Unemployment rate:
Greek area: 1.8% (1992)
Turkish area: 1.2% (1992)

Budget:
revenues: Greek area - $1.7 billion Turkish area - $273 million
expenditures: Greek area - $2.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $350 million Turkish area - $360 million, including capital expenditures of $78 million (1994)

Exports: $1.1 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: citrus, potatoes, grapes, wine, cement, clothing and shoes
partners: UK 19%, Greece 8%, Lebanon 2%, Egypt 7%

Imports: $3.3 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: consumer goods, petroleum and lubricants, food and feed grains, machinery
partners: UK 11%, Japan 11%, Italy 10%, Germany 9%, US 8%

External debt: $1.6 billion (1992)

Industrial production: growth rate 4% (1993 est.); accounts for 16.0% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 620,000 kW
production: 1.77 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 2,530 kWh (1991)

Industries: food, beverages, textiles, chemicals, metal products, tourism, wood products

Agriculture: contributes 7% to GDP and employs 26% of labor force in the south; major crops - potatoes, vegetables, barley, grapes, olives, citrus fruits; vegetables and fruit provide 25% of export revenues

Illicit drugs: transit point for heroin via air routes and container traffic to Europe, especially from Lebanon and Turkey

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $292 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $250 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $62 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $24 million

Currency: 1 Cypriot pound (#C) = 100 cents; 1 Turkish lira (TL) = 100 kurus
Exchange rates: Cypriot pounds per $US1 - 0.5148 (December 1993), 0.4970 (1993), 0.4502 (1992), 0.4615 (1991), 0.4572 (1990), 0.4933 (1989); Turkish liras (TL) per US$1 - 15,196.1 (January 1994), 10,983.3 (1993), 6,872.4 (1992), 4,171.8 (1991), 2,608.6 (1990), 2,121.7 (1989)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Cyprus on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cyprus Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cyprus Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.