In this Research Seminar, the speaker presented the findings of the Research Project 'Cyprus and the EU Sanctions on Russia: macroeconomic impacts and policy recipes for a sustained recovery', funded by the A.G. Leventis Research Innovation Programme on Cyprus.

Cyprus is highly exposed to the fallout from the war in Ukraine through trade with Russia. This new challenge comes against the background of the lingering effects of the pandemic and financial vulnerabilities dating from the 2012–13 crisis. The large tourism sector and other contact-intensive activities were affected by Covid-related mobility restrictions. Financial linkages to Russia have been reduced since the financial crisis, but exposures through trade in services—mainly tourism and professional services—is very high since tourism and tourism related services contribute more than 25% of the Cypriot output. In this context, the purpose of this project is to build a micro-founded macroeconomic model for Cyprus in order to address: the macroeconomic impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine; and, policy recipes for a sustained economic recovery in the context of the Next Generation EU-Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Meet our speaker and chair

Stelios Sakkas is a Research Economist at the Economics Research Centre-Dep. of Economics at the University of Cyprus. He holds a PhD in Economics from Athens University of Economics and Business. Formerly a Research Economist at the European Commission-JRC (Seville), he specializes in macroeconomics, fiscal policy, and regional economics using general equilibrium models. His work is published in journals like Macroeconomic Dynamics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, European Journal of Political Economy, Regional Studies, the Manchester School among others. With extensive policy engagement, he has contribute to significant Flagship reports of the European Commission (e.g Employment and Social Development report) and he has served on Experts Committees (e.g., on the evaluation of European Social Fund, the European Semester JRC country-desk Representative for Greece) and collaborated with international bodies such as the OECD and the EIB.

Kevin Featherstone is the Hellenic Observatory Director and Professorial Research Fellow, LSE.

The twitter Hashtag for this event is: #LSECyprus

Podcast

You can listen to the podcast here.

Slides

You can find Dr Stylianos' Sakkas Seminar slides here.

The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.