Coronavirus has put the global economy on the brink of a crisis that could prove to be the most serious in the century. Cyprus was not exception.
In order to make some push to the Cypriot economy, the Government of the Republic of Cyprus has expressed their wish to accelerate the process of granting citizenship for investment, in accordance with the new established criteria.
According to the new rules, Cyprus can issue no more than 700 passports per year.
Despite that, the authorities periodically declare that the Cyprus economy does not depend directly of the “golden passports”. This situation demonstrated that Cyprus does not intent to abandon the famous scheme. Even after a recent decision, Cypriot citizenship requires the government and the promotion of an active investment program.
Especially because of its efficiency, the economy has proved. Statistics show us that 1.2% of Cyprus’s GDP is related to the naturalization program.
For the last 5 years, starting in 2013, the scheme for issuing of “golden passports” to foreigners has helped Cyprus attract about 6.6 billion EUR from abroad. This amount is almost 6x times the amount that a similar program helped generate to neighboring Malta.
The "golden passport" were a relatively small number of foreign investors. A study by the Cypriot Ministry of Finance showed a positive and very significant impact of the Citizenship for Investment program on the Cyprus property market and construction sector, employment, tax collection (in particular, an increase in VAT revenue) and a reduction in public debt.
According to experts, including the growth of Cyprus GDP over the past three years has been directly related to the local "citizenship for investment" program.
Source: In-cyprus
Photos: pixabay.com
