Cyprus paid €8.8 million for rural priests’ salaries in 2025

In 2025, the state allocated around €8.8 million to partially cover the salaries of rural priests and religious group ministers. This follows data from the General Treasury of the Republic of Cyprus — the authority that records government spending.

The amount has increased for the fourth consecutive year: €7.2 million in 2022, €7.6 million in 2023, €8.3 million in 2024 and €8.8 million in 2025. According to Treasury calculations, spending under this item will exceed €10 million by 2029.

The payments are not made under a government decision, but under an obligation assumed by the state back in 1971, during the tenure of Archbishop Makarios III. At the time, the Church transferred 15,564 decares of land to the state — one dekar equals 1,000 square metres — and in return the Treasury agreed to partially cover the cost of maintaining the rural clergy.

The payment arrangements were revised by a 2019 law. According to data for 2024, around 850 members of the clergy receive the subsidy.

The spending is established by law and is not allocated at the government’s discretion when the next budget is drafted.