The President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde, in Cyprus on a short visit, said on Wednesday she was confident Cyprus would recover from the setbacks caused by the war in Ukraine.
“I have full confidence that Cyprus with the help of its partners, with the help of Europe at large, like other Euro area members, will be able to recover and bounce back and return to the prosperity and the path that was taken previously,” the ECB chief said.
Lagarde arrived in Cyprus early on Wednesday for a visit that was described “of particular importance” by the Central Bank. She met the Governor, Constantinos Herodotou, before heading to the presidential palace for a meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades
After meeting Anasrasiades, she referred to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its impact on the island. “We are all shocked and horrified by the images of the war and everybody is doing the best to address the situation,” she said.
Lagarde said there would be consequences from the war, explaining that “tourism will be affected”. She sounded a positive note, however, saying that Cyprus had shown resilience in the past and would be able to recover.
“It has always been the case in the past that Cyprus has demonstrated this ability to improve to innovate and to move from one business level to another,” she said.
She thanked the president for the invitation and hospitality and said “it is a great pleasure to be back,” explaining that “Cyprus is very much, not at the far end of Europe but at the core of Europe and a key player and key member of Europe.”
In a tweet, Anastasiades said it was a pleasure to welcome the president of the European Central Bank and to update her on the state of Cyprus economy.
“I had the opportunity to brief President Christine Lagarde about current state of the Cyprus economy and discuss with her some of the new challenges we are facing due to the war in Ukraine,” he wrote.
In an interview she gave to Phileleftheros prior to her visit, Lagarde appeared optimistic that Cyprus “by showing the flexibility it has shown many times” could face the current difficulties caused by geopolitical upheavals “and will emerge even stronger”.
Commenting on the loss of around 25 per cent of tourism from Russia and Ukraine due to the war, Lagarde said that the Cypriot authorities were doing the right thing by pursuing other markets.
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