Economic affairs in Cyprus are dominated by the division of the country into the southern area controlled by the Cyprus Government and the northern Turkish Cypriot-administered area.
The Turkish Cypriot economy has about one-third per capita of the south. Because it is recognized only by Turkey it has had difficulty arranging foreign financing; foreign firms have hesitated to invest. The economy heavily depended on agriculture. To compensate for this weakness Turkey provides direct and indirect aid to nearly every sector. In January 1997 Turkey signed a $250 million economic cooperation agreement with the Turkish Cypriot area to support tourism, education and industry.
The area of the Republic of Cyprus under government control has a market economy dominated by the service sector, which accounts for 78% of GDP. Tourism, financial services, and real estate are the most important sectors. The economy in the area under government control grew by an average of 3.6% per year during the period of 2000-06, well above the EU average.
Economic summary
The Gross Domestic product counts 21,3 billions USD (2007 est.) and the real growth rate is 4,4%.
GDP per capita counts 46,900 USD (2007)
Nowadays unemployment rate is 3,9%.
Inflation rate is 2,2%.
Exports counts 1,489 billion USD (2007 est.) and the main exports commodities are citrus, potatoes, pharmaceuticals and clothing. Exports partners of Cyprus are United Kingdom (15,1%), Greece (14,2%), France (7%) and Germany (4,9%).
Imports counts 7,786 billion USD (2007 est.) and the main imports commodities are consumer goods, petroleum, intermediate goods, machinery and transport equipment. The main imports partners are Greece (17,6%), Italy (11,4%), Germany (9%), United Kingdom (8,9%), Israel (6,2%), France (4,3%) and China (4,2%).