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Les Manison

Les Manison is a former senior economist at the International Monetary Fund, an ex-advisor in the Cyprus finance ministry and a former senior advisor at the Central Bank of Cyprus

Articles
2026 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

Factors influencing voters in the elections
The election to select 56 members to the House of Representatives will take place on May 24 with 19 political parties and 743 candidates participating. Will voters in Cyprus follow their European counterparts and ...

The economic consequences of corruption
The phenomenon broadly referred to as corruption has existed for over 2,000 years. And throughout history accusations of corruption have caused governments to fall and prominent politicians, including presidents and prime ...

Missed opportunities on budgets and tax reform
In recent days the government of President Nikos Christodoulides and MPs approved the government budgets and a tax reform. In doing so they have missed real opportunities to support policies ...

Urgent need to overhaul tax reform
Members of the House of Representatives should not rush to approve the questionable ‘tax reform’ proposed by the government. This is because its contents are largely not compatible with achieving ...

Cyprus: questions on deficient budgets
It has been business as usual with the preparation of the Cyprus government budgets for 2026 to 2028 with little attention being paid to addressing current and future policy challenges, including narrowing ...

Cyprus: wasteful and irresponsible use of financial resources
The Cyprus government is generating large surpluses and accumulating deposits at banks reaching €6.8 billion at the end of September 2025.  And Cyprus banks held cash and cash balances totaling €19.6 billion or ...

Urgent need for property tax reform
There are compelling reasons why the property sector in Cyprus should be subject to greater taxation and, moreover, should be a key part of the forthcoming tax reform. Firstly, in ...

Spiralling foreign purchases of Cyprus properties
Data for the years 2022 to 2024 and the first seven months of 2025 indicate that the purchases of Cyprus real estate by foreigners are rapidly increasing. This frenzy in buying Cyprus properties ...

A more regressive tax system
There are three main criticisms of the proposed tax reform. First, it is not directed at meeting the medium to longer-term government revenue and expenditure needs of Cyprus and is ...

A questionable allocation of financial resources
Cyprus’ GDP is growing rapidly and banks are making big profits, but is the welfare of most people benefiting from such developments? The answer is a definite no as the ...

Government promises lack substantive action
In addition to trying to solve the overarching Cyprus problem, governments have faced many interrelated challenges, including ensuring the adequate functioning of physical infrastructure systems, implementing reforms required for EU ...

Proposed tax reform is blatantly unfair
President Nikos Christodoulides has stated repeatedly that the proposed tax reform will “aim at reducing the tax burden on families and working people, modernising the economy, and encouraging competitiveness”. However, ...

What will cause the next financial crisis?
The bursting of interrelated credit and property bubbles has caused financial crises in the US and certain European countries, including Cyprus, in recent decades. The epicentre of the global financial ...

How the top 10 per cent dominate Cyprus’ economy
The rich are having a disproportionately large impact on economic activity, spending and saving behaviour throughout the world. The wealthy with their political influence and control over financial resources are ...

Performance of Cyprus banks continues to be inadequate
In 2024 Cyprus banks continued to amass very large profits. However, their self-serving behaviour, particularly in conduct of interest rate and lending policies, has meant that banks fell far short in ...

Cyprus: are government policies making people worse-off?
Government policies in allocating resources implicitly promote consumerism, mass tourism and property development as the key drivers of economic growth President Nikos Christodoulides and the Finance Minister Makis Keravnos claim ...

Profound implications of a Europe rearmed
Given Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the broader threat that President Putin’s regime poses to Europe and the prospect that Ukraine and America’s Nato allies may ...