Foreign registration, Russian deposits rise, says Cyprus Minister

Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis has said the registration of foreign companies for the first semester of 2010 is 25% higher than the equivalent period of last year, adding that over the course of the past weeks there has been an increase in Russian deposits, particularly in US dollars and Euros, raising the Cypriot economy’s liquidity.
Stavrakis made the comments on the sidelines of a conference on attracting foreign investments on Wednesday.
“Over the last weeks we all noticed that a marginal recovery of the Cypriot economy has begun, which seems to be accelerating. One sector with particularly positive signs is that of foreign investments”, the Minister said.
He added that Cyprus has become a highly successful centre for foreign investments and services. “In spite of this, our market share in the global market is just 1,5%. If, with effort and coordination, the 1,5% rises to 2%, that will yield a 33% increase and an injection of hundreds of millions of Euros into the Cypriot economy. Consequently, this is the challenge and it is our collective duty, both public and private sectors, to coordinate in bringing more foreign investments to Cyprus.”