NICOSIA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund Wednesday downgraded its projections for the Cypriot economy, in the context of the slowdown of the global economy due to subdued trade and lower industrial production.
The IMF said in its World Economic Outlook that Cyprus' GDP would expand by 3.1 percent compared with 3.5 percent of GDP in its previous edition in the spring, while in 2020 the economy will slow further down to a 2.9 percent expansion compared with 3.3 percent in its previous estimate.
Cyprus's growth is higher than the projected euro area growth rate, which is estimated to decelerate to 1.2 percent and will go up 1.5 percent in 2020.
The Cypriot economy came out of a deep crisis that culminated in a 10 billion euros bailout by the Eurogroup and the IMF in 2013, and returned to growth in the last quarter of 2015, after a continuous 12-quarter recession.
Unemployment is projected to be 8 percent, compared with 7 percent in the previous estimate, and is predicted to decline to 6 percent in 2020, the IMF report added.
Inflation will remain subdued at 0.8 percent this year and will accelerate to 1.6 percent in 2020.
