NICOSIA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus' Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides presented the state budget for 2022 to the parliament on Monday.

Petrides told the parliamentary Finance Committee, which started a detailed review of the 10.4-billion-euro expenditure budget.

The minister said that the shortfall was the result of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the country.

"However, the budget needs to gradually become a balanced one again," Petrides added.

Cyprus' yearly budgets ended in a healthy surplus before the outbreak of the pandemic, helping the government reduce the public debt to below 100 percent of GDP after it had gone up as a result of the 2013 economic crisis.

Petrides said the need to support the economy during the pandemic pushed the government's debt in 2020 up to 119 percent of GDP, compared with 94.04 percent in 2019.

The minister said the debt will be brought down to 107 percent this year and to 100.7 percent at the end of 2022.

"Cyprus's public debt is now close to EU average and is currently tenable despite the pandemic," the minister said. Enditem

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