Cyprus economy predicted to grow strongly in coming 3 years

Cyprus' finance minister says the island nation's economy is projected to grow by more than three percent in each of the next three years.

Harris Georgiades told lawmakers Friday that growth for this year is expected to reach four percent. Georgiades said state coffers saw a 9.5 percent boost this year in light of the strong growth.

He said a key target for 2018 is to get unemployment below 10 percent. The jobless rate peaked at over 16 percent in the wake of a 2013 financial crisis that brought the country to near bankruptcy and forced it to seek a multi-billion euro rescue deal from its partners in the eurozone.