Republic of Cyprus Second Voluntary National Report - Sustainable development goals

112 NARRATIVE Cyprus has achieved significant progress in terms of addressing the macroeconomic imbalances escalated by the 2013 financial crisis. Even so, important challenges remain. The Cyprus Government is dedicated to taking action and guiding policies towards the resolution of the high public debt and the high ratio of non-performing loans. Furthermore, Cyprus yearly contributes to the European Development Fund, aiming at providing assistance to developing countries. The recent economic crisis, in conjunction with the Covid-19 pandemic have disrupted the provision of development assistance for all EU member states. Assistance currently provided is geared towards the developing countries which have been most affected by the pandemic. ANALYSIS Cyprus holds the 27th position in public financing to developing countries from Official Development Assistance with €21 million allocated towards this end (the EU average is €58,552 million). This comes as no surprise, since Cyprus is one of the smallest member states of the EU. However, taking into account the Official Development Assistance as a percentage of gross national income, Cyprus is placed 14 th among EU member states (0.2% relative to 0.4% of the EU). Cyprus falls around the middle of EU member states regarding the two indicators on financial governance within the EU. In particular, the general Government gross debt in Cyprus is 94% of GDP, placing Cyprus in the 21 st position among EU member states (the EU average is 77.6%). It is worth noting that an inverse U-shaped trend is observed, with an increase of the debt from 56.4% of GDP in 2010, to 94% in 2019, with its peak being 109.1% in 2014 (see Figure 38). Finally, Cyprus is 13 th in the share of environmental taxes in total tax revenues, 7.3% relative to 5.9% in the EU (see Figure 39). 56.4 65.9 80.3 104.0 109.1 107.2 103.1 93.5 99.2 94.0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 % of GDP Figure 38.: General Government Gross Debt 8.7 8.7 8.2 8.6 9.1 9.2 9.1 9.1 8.7 7.3 6 7 8 9 10 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 % (current prices) Figure 39.: Share of Environmental Taxes in Total Tax Revenues