Here are the top business stories in Cyprus from the week starting September 29

Revenue from tourism in Cyprus rose by 8.2 per cent in July 2025, reaching €513 million, according to a report released on Monday by the state statistical service.

Officials said this figure marked an increase from the €474m recorded during the same month in 2025.

For the period from January to July 2025, tourism revenue was estimated to have reached €1.89 billion.

This compared with €1.61 bn in the same period of 2024, marking an increase of 17.4 per cent.

In addition, the average expenditure per person stood at €870.78 in July 2025, higher than the €859.95 recorded in July 2024, marking a year-on-year increase of 1.3 per cent.


Food prices in Cyprus have risen by 20 per cent since the end of 2019, the mildest increase in the euro area, while Estonia has seen the steepest jump at 57 per cent, according to the European Central Bank (ECB).

Although overall inflation in the bloc has eased to 2 per cent from a peak of 10.6 per cent in October 2022, food inflation remains more persistent.  

In August it stood at 3.2 per cent, the highest among the main consumer price categories. As a result, shoppers are now paying about a third more for groceries than before the pandemic, the ECB noted. 

The surge, it explained, came in stages. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy and fertiliser costs sharply higher in 2021–23, fuelling food inflation across the euro area and hitting the Baltic states especially hard.


Cyprus’ public finances remain on a strong footing, with German rating agency Scope projecting public debt will fall below 60 per cent of GDP this year and under 50 per cent in the following years.

The agency said that it kept the country’s credit profile at A- with a stable outlook, citing robust fiscal indicators, a historically high primary surplus and the continued reduction of non-performing loans (NPLs).

GDP grew by 3.3 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2025, making Cyprus the second-fastest growing economy in the eurozone after Ireland.  

Scope forecasts growth of around 3 per cent annually through 2030, despite weaker euro area activity and higher US tariffs. 

Fiscal performance remains solid. After posting a record general government surplus of 4.3 per cent of GDP in 2024, the cash balance for the first seven months of 2025 reached €840.6 million, 2.4 per cent of GDP.


Cyprus has the most generous personal income tax break in the European Union, sparing the first €19,500 of earnings from tax.

That cushion, higher than anywhere else in the bloc, helps explain why the island is often seen as a low-tax destination.

The figure was included in a study prepared for parliament after Akel MP Giorgos Loukaides asked how Cyprus compares with its European peers.

Twenty-two member states shared information through the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation, though Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Malta declined to respond.


Water and housing are the key challenges faced by Cyprus, head of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Nadia Calviño said on Tuesday, emphasising the significant impact of European investments on the island.

She said attending a joint board meeting of the EIB and European Investment Fund in Limassol had “allowed us also to see the impact of the investments we finance on the ground.”

With other delegates she had earlier visited student residences at Cyprus University of Technology and the Limassol wastewater treatment plant.

Calviño also announced the launch of the second phase of Cyprus’s climate roadmap. “We will be focusing on projects that contribute to the competitiveness and security of Europe.


Cyprus has been ranked second in Europe for improving air connectivity, while also closing 2025 with another strong year for tourism, according to Deputy Minister of Tourism Kostas Koumis.

Speaking during an event for World Tourism Day held on Monday night at the Larnaca Medieval Castle, Koumis said that a June 2025 report by the Aviation Council International placed Cyprus in second place across Europe in terms of improvements in air connectivity between 2019 and 2025.

He added that “this year is expected to close on a positive note for both arrivals and revenues, but more importantly it will once again leave a positive footprint on businesses in the sector, which is of particular importance to the administration of Nikos Christodoulides”.

The deputy minister spoke of what he called “hopeful messages” emerging from special forms of tourism, as well as the fact that “off-peak months are showing significant signs of improvement in both arrivals and revenues”.


Deputy Minister of Shipping Marina Hadjimanolis on Tuesday said that Cyprus aims to strengthen its shipping cluster and registry, an objective that will be further explored at the upcoming Maritime Cyprus 2025 conference.

The conference, set to take place on October 6-8 in Limassol, will also explore the future of the industry amid global challenges.

At a press conference on the organisation of the conference, Hadjimanolis said that the government is proud of an institution with a 36-year history “that has now been established among the leading shipping conferences worldwide”.

“This year, we set as a goal the further enrichment of the conference, both in terms of distinguished speakers and of themes, so that it fully reflects the modern challenges and opportunities of the sector,” she added.


Limassol port operator DP World on Tuesday used the occasion of this year’s world tourism day to reaffirm its “dedication to harnessing tourism’s transformative power for Cyprus’ economy, culture, and environment“.

“As a cornerstone of the island’s prosperity, tourism drives growth and global connectivity, and DP World Limassol, as the operator of the island’s main cruise terminal, is committed to advancing this vital sector through sustainable innovation,” the company said.

“In 2025, Cyprus is expected to welcome over 4 million visitors, with cruise tourism alone generating significant revenue for the local economy,” it added.


The open electricity market finally went live on Tuesday, with producers and suppliers placing bids for the next day’s generated energy as the state-run Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) welcomed the development.

The first bidding took place on the ‘electricity exchange’ in what’s known as the day-ahead market, where electricity producers – like the EAC and private solar parks – as well as suppliers bid for the energy generated every half hour.

The trades began on Tuesday, so that the electricity rates for every half hour would get ‘locked in’ for the day ahead – Wednesday, officially the launch of the open electricity market.

The electricity exchange – operated by the Transmission System Operator (TSO) – functions as a clearing house for prices.

The official launch had been preceded by a trial period which started on January 7 this year, on a simulation basis without actual money transactions. During the trial period, producers and suppliers ‘bid’ on a monthly, rather than on an hourly, basis.


A new verification of payee service will be implemented by all banks operating in Cyprus and the SEPA zone in October 2025, aiming to enhance the security of electronic payments.

The Association of Cyprus Banks said the VoP service is part of the European strategy for the unification and security of payments across Europe, requiring payment service providers to offer mechanisms that verify the match between the beneficiary’s name and the corresponding IBAN before executing a money transfer.

They added that this will allow citizens and businesses to know with greater certainty that the funds they send are directed to the intended recipient.

The association said the verification process will be completed within seconds, will apply to both standard and instant euro payments, will be implemented across all SEPA countries, and will cover both natural and legal persons.

They added that the VoP service will be provided free of charge to customers for both standard and instant payments.


“Certain things” must be implemented before Cyprus makes its planned €25 million payment to Greece’s independent power transmission system operator Admie as part of its obligations regarding the Great Sea Interconnector, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Tuesday.

The project, if completed, will connect the energy grids of Cyprus, Greece and Israel.

He said that “as long as implementation [of the project] is delayed, it is not positive”, and that delays are “something which burden and touch other aspects, including financial ones”.

“The Republic of Cyprus is committed to the implementation of this specific project, for which there is a provision of €25m in the budget for both 2025 and 2026,” he said, before adding that it “is important that certain things be implemented, which, as they are delayed, affect the viability of the project”.

Cyprus agreed last year to make five annual payments of €25m to Admie before the interconnector is operational.


The Cyprus Real Estate Agents Registration Council on Friday voiced strong opposition to key provisions of three draft bills currently being debated in parliament.

In its statement, the council warned that the proposals “could create a bureaucratic bottleneck in the property market and overburden already understaffed building authorities”.

While the council acknowledged the need for better management of jointly owned buildings, it stressed that “certain provisions risk having devastating consequences“.

A central point of disagreement is the proposal that a certificate from the management committee confirming the settlement of communal expenses should be required both for the filing of a sales contract and for the final transfer of a property.

“Such a requirement will obstruct thousands of property transactions, cause endless delays, and open the door to cases of owners being blackmailed by arbitrary or mismanaged committees,” said the council’s president Marinos Kineyirou.


Cyprus recorded the third largest increase in the European Union for short-term rental accommodation in the second quarter of 2025, with a rise of 29 per cent compared with the same period of 2024, according to figures published by Eurostat.

This has placed Cyprus behind only Malta, which registered the steepest increase of 36 per cent, and Slovakia, which grew by 29.1 per cent.

The Eurostat figures showed that between April and June 2025, guests spent a total of 245.9 million nights in EU accommodation booked via the online platforms Airbnb, Booking and Expedia.

This represented an increase of 17.8 per cent compared with the same quarter of 2024 and 36.8 per cent compared with the second quarter of 2023.

In Cyprus, the second quarter results marked a sharp acceleration from the first quarter of 2025, when the country posted an increase of 8.4 per cent.


Cyprus recorded an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent in August 2025, higher than the 5 per cent rate seen in July and up from 4.6 per cent in August 2024, according to figures published by Eurostat.

The number of unemployed persons in Cyprus reached 27,000 in August, compared with 25,000 in June and 24,000 in May.

Youth unemployment in Cyprus remained a concern, with the rate at 14.7 per cent in both May and June of this year, above the 11.2 per cent seen in August 2024.

Moreover, Eurostat data showed that 4,000 young people under 25 were unemployed in the country in June 2025.

In terms of gender, male unemployment in Cyprus stood at 4.7 per cent in August 2025, while female unemployment was higher at 5.5 per cent.