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Cyprus has transferred more than €2.5bn to the European Union and received €1.4bn in grants since it became a member in 2004, the Treasury of the Republic said on Wednesday.

The above figures “do not include other grants paid by the EU directly to public corporations”, including the Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organisation (Capo), a body tasked with paying subsidies to farmers, Stelios Anastasiou, an accountant at the Treasury said in an emailed statement.

Since May 2004, Capo has received a total of €803m, Anastasiou said.

In the same period, the government transferred to the EU €1.6bn in its own resources based on gross national income (GNI) and €519.6m in the form of the EU’s share in value added tax (VAT) revenue, the Treasury said. In addition, the government transferred to the EU budget €405.3m in “traditional own resources”, which include custom duties and sugar levies.

The GNI is a country’s gross domestic claimed by its residents plus wages earned by foreign residents minus wages earned by non-residents at home. The share of the EU’s VAT revenue is 0.3 per cent on the harmonised VAT tax base of every country.

In the first ten months of 2016, the island transferred to the EU a total of €163.3m and received €60.3m back in the form of grants to the government, resulting in net transfers of €103m the Treasury said. In 2016, net transfers were €122.8m after grants fell to €37.5m, the lowest since 2007, against a total of €160.3m in total transfers.

The highest amount of transfers to the EU was in 2008 when the government contributed €310.2m in transfers to the EU followed by 2015 with €236.1m. In 2008, total transfers exceeded grants by €252.7m, the highest difference ever after that of 2015 when it was €143.7m, according to the Treasury.

In 2004, 2005 and 2006, the Cypriot government received €6.7m, €16.6m and €7.3m more than it paid to the EU budget, the Treasury data show.

Source:Cyprusmail