The Cyprus International Businesses’ Association (CIBA) on Thursday submitted its positions on the proposed tax reform bills as part of the government’s public consultation process.

According to CIBA, its positions are the result of extensive consultation with its member companies and thorough analysis by the association’s tax and legal committees, which are composed of experts in taxation matters.

The association emphasised that its positions focus primarily on the competitiveness of the Cypriot economy and do not merely comment on individual provisions of the draft bills.

They also include well-documented legal and economic analysis, and in several cases, provide recommendations on how the government and relevant authorities should approach tax reform.

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has announced two training initiatives for financial and business operators, both focusing on strengthening compliance with international sanctions and tackling risks linked to sanctions evasion.

The first training will be hosted virtually by the Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC), with support from the United States Department of State.

The programme aims to help the private sector in Cyprus improve compliance with changing sanctions requirements and better manage risks linked to new evasion tactics.

Experienced US practitioners will lead the training, offering practical case studies and insights designed for the Cypriot context.

The event will take place twice, on two separate dates.

The session for financial institutions and crypto asset service providers will be held on November 3, 2025, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Cyprus saw a continued rise in business activity in 2023, with the number of enterprises climbing by 4.5 per cent to 125,152 compared with 119,816 in 2022, according to the Statistical Service (Cystat).

This increase marked the fifth consecutive year of expansion. The business register has grown steadily since 2018, when it stood at 101,323 enterprises.  

It rose by 5.7 per cent in 2019, 1.3 per cent in 2020, 3.8 per cent in 2021 and 6.5 per cent in 2022, before the latest rise in 2023. 

At the same time, the structure of Cypriot businesses remained largely unchanged. Micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 employees continued to dominate, making up 94.8 per cent of all businesses, a total of 118,697. 

Greece’s maritime employees’ pension fund, (NAT) presented its first study on ‘International good practices for the promotion of women’s maritime employment’ last week during the 89th Thessaloniki International Fair, at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security’s pavilion.  

The report mentioned by Newmoney, edited by Gabriel Amitsis, Professor of Social Security Law at the University of West Attica, builds on NAT’s established Annual Report on Maritime Employment, now in its third edition and already considered a key reference point for the sector. 

The study shows that women represent 7.8 per cent of total registered maritime employment in Greece, a figure that far exceeds the international and European averages of 1.2 per cent in 2021 and 2.4 per cent in 2022. 

The Bank of Cyprus (BoC) on Thursday announced that on September 10, 2025, it successfully launched and priced an issue of €300 million unsecured and subordinated Tier 2 Capital Notes under its €4 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme.

“The transaction was highly successful due to the strong interest from investors,” the bank said in a statement.

The issue received demand from more than 100 institutional investors, with the final order book exceeding €3 billion and more than ten times oversubscribed.

“This demand demonstrates the confidence of foreign and local investors in the Bank of Cyprus,” the bank added.

Due to the strong demand, the final pricing was set at a spread of 195 basis points, 35 basis points tighter than the initial price indication, resulting in a yield of 4.321 per cent, compared to the initial indication of 4.67 per cent.

The Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) this week published detailed data on sales of locally produced industrial commodities for 2023.

Total sales of industrial commodities produced by local units reached €4.60 billion in 2023, marking an increase of 7.3 per cent compared with €4.29 billion in 2022.

Among key products, halloumi cheese sales reached 41,900 tonnes with a value of €338.1 million, while pasteurised milk and fresh cream totalled 60.7 million litres, valued at €85.9 million.

Total government employment in Cyprus reached 52,661 persons in August 2025, marking an increase of 209 individuals or 0.4 per cent compared with August 2024, according to the Statistical Service (Cystat). 

Employment in the civil service fell by 0.9 per cent during this period, while the security forces recorded a sharper decline of 2.4 per cent.  

In contrast, employment in the educational service rose by 5 per cent during this time.

Compared to August 2024, the most notable increase was among employees with contracts of definite duration, which rose by 8.3 per cent.  

Demetra Holdings Plc on Thursday announced the repurchase of a further 2,351 of its own shares.

According to a filing on the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE), the shares were purchased at a price of 1.685 cents each.

The company confirmed that the purchases were made in three transactions.

It said the first transaction involved 325 shares, the second 513 shares, and the third 1,513 shares.

Demetra Holdings added that the total number of shares repurchased amounted to 2,351.