The Financial Mirror This Week: 20 Years Ago (22/12/1993)

The Financial Mirror This Week: 20 Years Ago

Pay demands an ongoing saga in civil, private sectors

Pay demands in the private sector had pushed the employers and trade unions to a fresh round of confrontation, while President Clerides gave in to demands from the civil servants for wage increases, alas unrelated to performance, according to The Cyprus Financial Mirror, issue 39, December 22, 1993.
Employers vs unions: Twelve employer federations associated with OEV have rejected calls by the trade unions for rises of 3.5 to 4.5% in basic pay, which in effect means real pay rises of 17-18%, an increase which will cripple industry and drive hundreds of businesses straight into the rams of the Chief Liquidator of bankrupt companies.
Clerides gives in: The President has written to the civil servants union Pasidy offering a compromise in order to break the deadlock on disagreements over their demands for pay increases. Pasidy wants CYP 38 mln as promised by the previous administration, based on the excuse that with VAT rising from 5% to 8%, the economy should also grow 1.3 to 3% and that tax collection should improve. (We have been hearing that ‘tax collection should improve’ for the past 20 years…)
1 mln for Yialousa: Yialousa Savings Bank hopes to raise its share capital by raising CYP 1 mln from a new share issue. Major shareholder Andreas Kaisis said he would subscribe to the new issue, albeit at a 25% premium. The stock was trading at 73.5c, -18% for the year.
SIF in trouble: Labour Minister Andreas Moushoutas said that the Social Insurance Fund was solid, but needed CYP 3 mln to cover current shortfalls and CYP 15 mln for 1994, primarily due to the reduction of the retirement age from 65 to 63.
Vassiliko furore: Villagers are angry over the decision to go ahead and build the Vassiliko petrol-fueled power station that should be completed by January 1998 with a capacity of 120MW and a cost of US$ 180 mln.
Where are they now? The central bank has issued an offshore banking license to the Industrial Commercial Avtovazbank, making it the seventh Russian OBU in Cyprus.
Air2000 to Gatwick: The UK’s third largest airline that carried 4 mln passengers the previous year, brought 108,000 British holidaymakers to Larnaca airport and 81,500 to Paphos from its Gatwick hub.
Stock Market: The threat of a rise in the corporate tax rate pushed sentiment on stock trading to new lows with the KEVE Index rising marginally by 0.4%, but trading volume had dropped to CYP 258,000. The market recovery was based solely on a 1c recovery of Bank of Cyprus and a stunning 5.5% rise in Hellenic Bank. Bank of Cyprus was trading at 189.5c, Cyprus Popular at 208.5c and Hellenic Bank at 241.5c. Market cap: CYP 500.4 mln (+2.4 mln from week-earlier).
Property Guide: A traditional village house near Troodos under restoration was selling for CYP 135,000 by Afames Village Dev., while N&C Kyriakides Estates offered a used 3-bed house on the Larnaca-Limassol road for CYP 140,000. Thomaides Group was selling a 2-bedr house in Yermasoyia for CYP 47,500.