Political parties and stakeholders called for further measures to curb inflation at parliament’s Energy Committee, as the finance ministry said efforts were being made to cut excise duty on fuel and VAT on electricity further.
Associations and organisations told the committee about the difficulties households and businesses face because of higher energy costs. Figures presented to the committee showed that support measures from 2023 to 2026, including those adopted for 2027, amount to almost 0.5 billion euros.
Finance ministry representative Nayia Symeonidou said the across-the-board measures help reduce household spending. The ministry has written to the Energy Ministry asking it to monitor prices, to ensure the benefit is passed on to consumers, she said. She added that Cyprus had made a good effort to target its measures compared with other countries.
The Central Bank said that measures that are not targeted create further inflationary pressures because they increase consumption.
According to a finance ministry representative, the latest measures cost 65 million euros. Zero VAT on basic goods such as baby nappies, feminine hygiene products and vegetables costs 15 million euros. On meat, fish and poultry the fiscal cost is 9.6 million euros, and on bread and milk 8.6 million euros.
Finance Ministry Director General Andreas Zachariades said the government’s measures fall into three categories: immediate or short-term, reform and institutional, and investment.
The immediate measures include reducing VAT on electricity to 5 per cent, cutting excise duty on fuel and zero VAT on a range of essential goods, he said.
The reform measures affect people’s incomes and include the student grant, child benefit, pension reform and tax reform. Zachariades said the tax reform does not reach lower-income groups but benefits the middle class. Investment measures relate to energy consumption and include lower VAT on photovoltaic systems and the use of electric vehicles.
A Consumer Protection Service representative said a study is under way to add products to the e-kalathi platform, which currently lists 476. The platform has 30,000 users and will soon include a map showing the area with the cheapest basket, the representative said. The committee heard that consumers can save between 24 and 35 per cent by choosing carefully.
The service carried out 25,000 market inspections in 2025 and a further 12,000 up to August 2026.
