Xinhua, Nicosia :
Increased tourism arrivals have helped the recession of the crisis-stricken economy of Cyprus to considerably slow down in the second quarter this year, according to statistics released Wednesday.
The Statistics Service of the eastern Mediterranean island reported a seasonably adjusted 0.3 percent shrinkage of GDP in the April-June period from the first quarter.
The year-on-year second quarter contraction of the economy was 2.3 percent compared with a 3.9 drop for the first quarter.
Strong performance by the tourist sector, which marked a 6 percent increase in arrivals and 8.9 percent increase of revenue on a year-on-year basis in the first half of the year despite initial concerns about the impact of the Ukrainian crisis, is expected to help keep the recession this year to a projected 4.2 percent.
Contraction last year, when Cyprus was bailed out by a 10-billion-euro assistance package offered by the Eurogroup and the International Monetary Fund, was 5.4 percent, well below an original projection of about 8.2 percent decline.
Cypriot authorities and its international lenders expect the economy to return to a modest growth of 0.8 percent next year, thanks to the improving liquidity condition of the banking system.
