Cyprus and Australia top sorry lot of economies

Cyprus rarely makes the news. But it’s name is up in lights — and for just one really good reason. When the International Monetary Fund released its latest dire forecasts for the global economy last week, there was only one country in the developed world expected to enjoy growth through this year. And that country was Cyprus. The IMF reckons the island nation of about 850,000 people will grow 0.3 per cent this year and 2.1 per cent next year. Why, when every other country in the developed is going backwards, is this speck of a place growing? The Cyprus High Commission highlighted its financial links to the Middle East (it had grown into a financial centre since the fall of Lebanon in the 1970s), its strong tourism industry and the “balanced” way the place is run. “It has been sane,” one official said. “We don’t have exposure to those sub-prime mortgages.” But even in this economic oasis, growth of just 0.3 per cent is pretty poor. It is just that in comparison to the rest of the world, it’s startlingly good.