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Moody's sees the election of Christodoulidis with a good eye

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Με καλματι βλ επει την εκλογor Χριστοδουλδη ο Moody&rsquo ;s

“We expect him to form a Government with broad appeal”, says the American rating agency

The Moody's rating agency&# 8217;s stated that the result of the presidential election in Cyprus “suggests the continuation of fiscal discipline and the progress of reforms”, noting, however, that the talks on a solution of the Cyprus problem could be “potentially hindered by the stricter line taken by the smaller parties that they supported the new President”.

“The term of office of the new President is five years and within this time 'we expect him to form a Government with broad appeal',” he says in his bulletin entitled “Credit Outlook” which is published twice a week.

According to Moody's, it is expected that the new Government “will consist of technocrats, members of the small centrist parties that supported him and possibly members from his former party, the ruling Democratic Alarm, noting that “we expect that the Christodoulidis Government will try to maintain the prudent fiscal policy of Cyprus together with the economic reform policies”.

“We expect the new Government to follow a prudent fiscal policy”, added the rating agency.

Recalling that the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices was 6.8% in January 2023 and averaged 8.1% for the full year 2022, Moody's added that Mr. Christodoulidis announced that any additional support to help households and businesses due to the energy crisis and cost of living should be targeted, “without letting fiscal discipline slip away”.

According to the house, the new President supported the gradual expansion of ATA against the more radical position of the employers' side which calls for the price competitiveness of the economy not to be weakened.

As he notes, “we expect a greater emphasis on long-term solutions for the diversification of energy sources in Cyprus, which is based on the import of oil and its derivatives for 83% of the total energy supply, in 2021, with biofuels and renewable energy sources making up 13% ».

According to Moody's, the new Government should also focus its attention on the expansion of renewable energy sources such as the natural gas liquefaction plant in Vasilikos, the Euro-Asia Interconnector project and accelerate the development of some nearby natural gas fields.

He also mentions that Mr. Christodoulidis' pre-election program included commitments to continue supporting the package of reforms under the EU NextGen program and the General Health Plan implemented by the current Government.

He notes also that Mr. Christodoulidis managed to gather support from the three small political parties, DIKO, EDEK and DIPA as well as groups and parties that failed to participate in the Parliament.

According to Moody's, the new President managed to attract a significant number of voters from the ruling conservative party DISY, of which Mr. Christodoulidis was only recently a member and served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of outgoing President Nikos Anastasiadis.

On the Cyprus issue, the rating agency said the new President promised a new effort to resolve the issue by resuming negotiations aimed at achieving a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation and that he would seek an active EU involvement in the resolution process.

However, he adds, any talks will be difficult and possibly hindered by the hard line of the small political parties that supported the new President.

Furthermore, the rating agency says the election result was a big blow to another important candidate, Averof Neofytou, current President of DISY because he failed to secure his inclusion in the second round of the elections after he got only 26% against Andreas Mavroyiannis who got 29.6% and Mr. Christodoulidis' 32%.

It was the first time that DISY failed to advance to the second round, he reports and says that it is “uncertain” whether DISY, which has the largest number of seats in the Parliament &#82 11? 17 seats out of 56 – will support the agenda of the new President, recalling the decision of the Political Bureau of the DISY to vote at will in the b’ round of elections.

source: KYPE/THE CYPRUS DAILY

Source: 24h.com.cy

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