The construction industry was an important segment of the Turkish Cypriot economy and provided about 10 percent of employment and about 7 percent of GDP in the late l980s. Demand for housing, especially for the refugees displaced by the events of 1974, extensive work on the infrastructure, and a rapidly expandiÍÍÍÍng tourist industry accounted for much of this activity. Governmentfinanced housing programs for civil servants also helped maintain the construction industry. The cost of government -financed housing of this kind was cheaper than in the private sector and permitted ordinary wage-earners to become homeowners.

Data as of January 1991