Cyprus Business Now

The cabinet has decided to increase the government subsidy for the ferry connection between Cyprus and Greece by €500,000 due to the rise in fuel prices. The increase brings the total amount to €5.5 million.

“The council of ministers today decided to increase the subsidy for the sea passenger connection from € 5 million to € 5.5, taking into account the increase in the price of fuel,” deputy shipping minister Vassilis Demetriades said on Monday.

“The council was also informed on the progress of the project, as well as the effort to formulate a new tender document, which will be published within the current month, in the effort made to offer alternative connectivity to our fellow citizens,” Demetriades added.

The Cyprus Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry has confirmed that the €30 million budget allocated to spur new business activity and promote stimulate entrepreneurship has now been fully allotted.

The scheme is part of the Thalia 2021-2027 programme aiming to support and promote small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and is funded by both the European Union and the Republic of Cyprus.

The ministry added that the €30 million budget will be divided among 516 successful applicants.

The ministry said on Monday that while the budget has been fully allocated, applications will continue to be accepted until December 31, 2021.

New applicants will be considered as runners-up and may receive funding if savings on the original budget are achieved in the future.

A total of 155,600 thousand people have started the process of filing their tax returns for 2020 by November 11, Income Tax department spokesman Sotiris Markides told the Cyprus News Agency.

Markides explained that the filing process on the TaxisNet portal continues without problems and urged all employees to complete their forms as soon as possible as the deadline is at the end of the month, on November 30.

Markides added that employees can fill in their forms in a few minutes with the help of automated tools available both in terms of completing the form and calculating the tax amount.

He said that 155,600 people have started the process so far, with 124,800 having completed the submission of their tax returns.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Monday, November 15 with profits.

The main Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 67.58 points by 12:20 during the day, reflecting an increase of 1.55 per cent over the previous day.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 40.42 points, representing a rise of 1.61 per cent. The total value of transactions came up to a relatively high amount of €112,351.21.

In terms of sub-indexes, the main index rose by 2.02 per cent, while investment firms, hotels and the alternative index fell by 2.42 per cent, 0.91 per cent and 0.28 per cent respectively.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by Bank of Cyprus Holdings (+6.86 per cent), Vassiliko Cement Works (-0.75 per cent), Hellenic Bank (+2.46 per cent), Logicom (-0.64 per cent), and Alkis H. Hadjikyriacos (Frou Frou Biscuits) Public Ltd (-0.71 per cent).