Cyprus Business Now

AstroBank appointed two new board members on Friday, September 10.

In an announcement released on Thursday, September 16, the bank said that Michalis Sarris and Evi Rossidou have joined the board.

Rossidou is AstroBank’s Head of Corporate, SME and Shipping Division, having been with the bank since 2008, while Sarris is a well-known economist and former Finance Minister.

“AstroBank is upgrading its management structure with the aim of achieving its business plan faster and providing differentiated services to its customers,” AstroBank CEO Aristidis Vourakis said in a press release.

The Technical Committees from Cyprus and Egypt agreed on Wednesday to proceed with a study concerning the transfer of natural gas from the “Aphrodite” reservoir, in Cyprus’ exclusive economic block 12, to an Egyptian Liquefaction Plant.

Representatives from both countries, who met in Cairo, included five officials from Cyprus’ Energy Ministry and the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company (CHC), as well as officials from Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and the Egyptian Hydrocarbon Company.

The meeting was decided by Energy Minister Natasa Pilides and her Egyptian counterpart, Tarek El-Molla, during the first Cyprus-Egypt Intergovernmental Summit, which took place on September 4, in the Egyptian capital.

“This study allows us to study the design of this pipeline, which is of historic importance for Cyprus and Egypt” CHC’s Acting General Manager and head of Cyprus’ Technical Committee Fessas said.

Fessas also noted that the two sides were entering an intensive stage to conduct the study, whose aspects were decided upon during the meeting in Cairo.

Employees in the public sector increased by 1,653 people during the second quarter of 2021, a Cyprus Statistical Service report revealed.

This represents 2.4 per cent of all employees in the broader public sector.

The total number of broader public sector employees reached a total of 71,136 people in the second quarter of 2021, with 65,462 of those being employed in the general government and another 5,674 of them being employed in organisations and companies controlled by the government.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) experienced a fairly stable day of trades on Thursday.

The main Cyprus Stock Market Index remained almost unaltered at 67.58 points by 13:39 during the day, reflecting a marginal increase of 0.08 points over the previous day.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 40.39 points, representing negligible losses of 0.02 per cent. The total value of transactions came up to €7,911, fewer than €12,894 than the previous day.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by Vassiliko Cement Works Public Company Ltd (€2,560 worth of transactions, no change in stock price), KEO (-4.36 per cent), Hellenic Bank (+0.70 per cent) and Lordos Hotels (€749 worth of transactions, no change in stock price).