Cyprus Business Now

More than €8 billion of major developments have been planned to be carried out in Cyprus, the Association of Large Investment Projects’ chairman Andreas Demetriades said on Thursday.

Demetriades was speaking following a meeting between the association’s board of directors and President Nikos Christodoulides and said the projects number between 18 and 20 and are expected to create between 8,000 and 9,000 jobs.

The developments are set to include the construction of new marinas, golf courses, technology parks, large tourist complexes, medical centres and other projects, he said.

Ten people from Cyprus made it to the Forbes World’s Billionaires List for 2024, from industries ranging from shipping to real estate and software, as well as easyJet’s Haji-Ioannou family.

At 88th place, making him the top-ranking Cypriot on the list, is Vinod Adani with a net worth of $23 billion. Aged 75, Adani is named as residing in Dubai but has Cypriot citizenship.

The Adani group, which started out in commodities trading, has interests in ports, airports, power generation and transmission, and green energy, among others.

The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) on Thursday reported an increase in bounced cheques during the first quarter of 2024, when compared to the same period of the previous year.

According to a report by the CBC, a total of 15 bounced cheques, amounting to €26,340, were issued in March alone.

These cases led to 6 individuals, comprising 5 legal entities and 1 individual, being listed in the preliminary registry of the Central Information Registry (CIR) for bounced cheques, which is maintained by the CBC.

The Cabinet this week approved a circular economy scheme for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), following a proposal by a proposal by the Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry George Papanastasiou.

The scheme is included in the Cyprus Recovery and Resilience Plan for the period 2021-2026 and will be financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility of the European Union (EU).

Specifically, the total amount that will be allocated for the needs of the scheme during its implementation period amounts to €14.4 million.

Cypriot authorities must capitalise on the economy’s robust performance and promote structural changes that will further unlock the country’s potential growth and development outlook, an official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), on the occasion of the completion of discussions with the Cypriot authorities under Chapter 4, Alex Pienkowski, head of the IMF mission for Cyprus, praised the resilience shown by the Cypriot economy, weathering successive external shocks, adding that it is time to promote reforms in the fields of justice, education, and the green transition.

“I believe the economy has shown impressive resilience,” Pienkowski said.

Inflation in Cyprus witnessed a significant deceleration in March 2024, recording the lowest rate of increase in nearly three years, standing at 1.2 per cent year-on-year. This downturn primarily stems from a reduction in electricity and petroleum prices.

According to a report by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) released on Thursday, the annual inflation rate of 1.2 per cent in March 2024 marks the lowest since April 2021.

Cyprus’ tourism revenue experienced a slight decline in January 2024, when compared to January 2023, while per capita tourist spending saw an increase, according to a report released by the Cyprus Statistical Service on Thursday.

According to the report, which is based on Traveller Survey results, Cyprus’ tourism revenue in January 2024 amounted to €45.2 million, compared to €45.6 million in the same month of the previous year, marking a decrease of 0.9 per cent.

It’s notable that tourist arrivals in January 2024 decreased slightly to 87,961, compared to 90,549 in January 2023.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Thursday, April 4 with losses.

The general Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 144.20 points at 13:37 during the day, reflecting a decrease of 0.15 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 87.56 points, representing a drop of 0.15 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €142,436, until the aforementioned time during trading.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the main, alternative and investment firm indexes fell by 0.2 per cent, 0.05 per cent and 0.23 per cent respectively. The hotel index remained unchanged.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by the Bank of Cyprus (-0.54 per cent), Hellenic Bank (+0.43 per cent), Demetra Holdings (-0.23 per cent), Blue Island (-3.92 per cent), and KEO PLC (no change).