Cyprus is set to channel one of the largest allocations in its history toward desalinated water as the government finalises its 2027 state budget, part of a broader response to what officials have called the island’s worst prolonged drought in over a century.
The cabinet approved an overall €11.1 billion state budget for 2027, roughly €470 million more than the 2026 spending plan, with Finance Minister Makis Keravnos citing continued economic growth and a widening fiscal surplus as the backdrop for the increase. The budget will be submitted to the House of Representatives for debate and approval in December.
Within that envelope, water security has become one of the government’s most closely watched line items. Agriculture and Environment Minister Maria Panayiotou has repeatedly stressed that reliance on desalinated water is only growing: a €200 million allocation was already set aside to upgrade the network and fund water purchases, with more than €140 million of that going toward buying desalinated water directly — described at the time as the largest such sum the state has ever committed. Officials have said Cyprus is moving toward covering almost all of its supply needs through desalination by 2027, as reservoir levels remain critically low against a shrinking dam network that once anchored the island’s water supply.
The funding push follows a string of capacity decisions this year. Cyprus’s cabinet has already approved three new permanent desalination plants for Dhekelia, Ayia Thekla and Polis Chrysochous, adding to a network that officials say they intend to keep expanding. That followed an earlier commitment, made as the country faced its worst water scarcity since 1901, to accelerate the desalination drive rather than wait on rainfall to recover. Ministers have also confirmed the island is moving ahead with four additional desalination plants as dam levels continue to sit well below their five-year average.
With parliamentary approval still pending in December, the scale of the final desalination allocation within the 2027 budget will not be confirmed until the House of Representatives completes its review. But with growth forecast at around 2.9% and a fiscal surplus projected to widen further, Nicosia appears to have given itself room to keep funding water infrastructure as a standing priority rather than an emergency measure.
(Source: Philenews)