Cyprus Business Now

The Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Keve) earlier participated and presided over the first annual general meeting of the Association of Balkan Chambers for 2022.

The Association of Balkan Chambers includes the national chambers of commerce from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, Cyprus and Bosnia.

The association’s next general meeting is scheduled to take place in Cyprus in November of this year.

According to a Keve statement, the discussion was primarily focused on issues of particular importance to the Balkan Chambers.

These included each country’s respective national recovery and resilience plans, the need to increase investment between Balkan countries, as well as the exchange of best practices.

The meeting also involved a discussion of the adverse effects felt in Balkan economies due to soaring inflation and high fuel prices, combined with the resulting measures enacted in each country to address some of the problems.

Due to the restrictive measures still in place, the general meeting took place online.

The total number of unemployed people fell by 66.2 per cent year-on-year in May, with the figure reaching 10,586 persons during that month, according to data by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) released on Friday.

The same figure in May of the previous year stood at 20,701 people.

This decrease is mainly attributed to the sectors of accommodation and catering services, down by 5,091 people, trade, with 4,052 fewer unemployed, as well as construction, which fell by 1,396 people.

Moreover, there were decreases in the sectors of manufacturing, with 1,268 fewer unemployed, as well as transport and storage, down by 993 people.

There were also 1,617 people who were newcomers to the labour market.

Based on seasonally adjusted data, which show the trend of unemployment, the number of registered unemployed in May 2022 decreased to 12,530 persons compared to 12,653 in the previous month.

By sector, the largest number of registered unemployed in May 2022, was Wholesale and Retail Trade, Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Repair with 1,950 persons, followed by the Accommodation Services and Catering Services Activities with 1,376 persons with 97 persons and Construction.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Friday, June 3 with profits.

The main Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 71.22 points at 13:40 during the day, reflecting a rise of 0.56 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 42.70 points, which represents an increase of 0.52 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €123,173.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the main, alternative and hotel indexes rose by 0.86 per cent, 0.16 per cent and 0.02 per cent respectively.

The investment firm index remained unchanged from the previous day of trading.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by the Bank of Cyprus (+0.88 per cent), Hellenic Bank (+0.24 per cent), Kythreotis (+19.7 per cent), Salamis Tours (+0.57 per cent) and Demetra (-0.53 percent).