Limassol – Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, laid the foundation stone for City of Dreams Mediterranean, the largest casino-resort in Europe, last Friday. The €550 million casino resort, which will also include a hotel, a convention centre, a retail area and a golf course, will be constructed in Zakaki in the west of Limassol. With a...Read More

Luxembourg – Cyprus unemployment went down to 8.6% in April 2018, registering the largest decrease in the European Union (EU). Unemployment in Cyprus in April stood at 8.1% for males and 9% for females averaging 8.6%, down from 9% in March 2018 and 11.7% in April 2017 (or down to 37.000 from 50.000 a year...Read More

Nicosia – Cyprus citizenship will now be harder to come by as Cyprus has tightened vetting procedures for its naturalisation by investment scheme, at the same time with limiting the number of passports to 700 per year. Cyprus Minister of Finance, Harris Georgiades, announced that the new procedures will be “stricter and more credible” and...Read More

London – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) revised significantly its projection for Cyprus’ growth rate this year, in the context of a wider upward revision of its forecasts for the EBRD regions. EBRD estimates that the Cypriot economy will grow by 3.2% in 2018, up by 0.7% compared with the November 2018...Read More

London – Fitch Ratings has upgraded Cyprus’ Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to BB+ from BB with a positive outlook. The rating is just one step before the investment scale. Fitch said the upgrade was the result of the country’s strong cyclical economic recovery and prudent fiscal policy but pointed out that weakness in...Read More

Limassol – Prof. Dr. Ben J. M. Terra, arguably Europe’s top authority on Value Added Tax (VAT), will join local expert Alexis Tsielepis to present the future of VAT in the European Union (EU) at a high-level seminar in Limassol early next month. Tilted ‘EU VAT: What the Future Holds’, the seminar is organised by the...Read More

Nicosia – Cyprus and the United Kingdom have renegotiated an all-new Double Tax Treaty (DTT). The new treaty was signed by the two states on 22 March 2018 and was published in the Government Gazette on 2 April 2018. The old tax treaty between Cyprus and the UK has been in existence since 1975. The...Read More

Nicosia – The Cyprus Cooperative Bank (CCB) is up for sale either in whole or in part. The bank is 77% state-owned and is the leader in the amount of deposits held by Cypriots. It is however weighed down by bad loans accounting for more than half of its loan portfolio. CCB provided access this...Read More

New York – The positive outlook for the Cypriot banking system reflects Moody`s view that the fast-paced economic expansion will continue, supporting borrowers` repayment capacity, asset values and new lending, Moody`s Investors Service said in a report this week. Moody`s expects nonperforming loans (NPLs) at the three core domestic banks, namely the Bank of Cyprus,...Read More

Nicosia – Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, was re-elected for a second term in office with 56% of the vote, yesterday. Stavros Malas, who contested the election backed by leftist party, AKEL, trailed behind with 44%. In a speech at the proclamation ceremony at the “Tassos Papadopoulos – Eleftheria” stadium in Nicosia, Anastasiades called for unity...Read More