NICOSIA: Cyprus returned to growth in the first quarter of this year, expanding by a revised 1.5 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis, data showed on Tuesday, in the first expansion in output since it slipped into recession in mid-2011.

On an annual basis, economic output rose by 0.2 percent from January to March compared with the fourth quarter of 2014, when the economy contracted by 1.8 percent.

The quarter-on-quarter growth figure was marginally lower than the 1.6 percent expansion in output that the statistics department issued in a flash estimate in May.

Copyright Reuters, 2015