**But up in December** Outbound tourism from Cyprus dropped by 1.2% compared with the previous year in 2012, according to figures based on the Passengers’ Survey. In January – December 2012, 1,194,053 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad compared with 1,208,899 in the same period of 2011. While inbound tourism from Russia rose
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Registrations of motor vehicles marked their fourth year of decline in 2012, falling by 28.8% to 25,829 in January – December 2012, from 36,264 vehicles in the same period of 2011. Registrations of private saloon cars in this period amounted to 19,443, compared with 26,409 in January-December 2011, thus marking a fall of 26.4%. Of
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Production in construction fell by 17.1% over the year earlier in the third quarter of 2011. Production for buildings tumbled by 16.9% while the civil engineering declined by 17.7%. Meanwhile, the price index of construction materials fell by 0.34% over the previous month in December but rose by 0.16% for the whole of 2012. The
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Iran said on Monday it had launched a live monkey into space, seeking to show off missile delivery systems that are alarming to the West given Tehran's parallel advances in nuclear technology. The defence ministry announced the launch as world powers sought to agree a date and venue with Iran for resuming talks to resolve
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The European Union's insurance watchdog has invited feedback on new rules about capital requirements and risk management, after life insurers complained they would make products with long-term guarantees too financially burdensome to be viable. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) said on Monday insurance companies would have nine weeks to test options in
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Relatives of the 231 people who died in a Brazilian nightclub fire demanded answers on Monday as to how it could have killed so many people, while police questioned the club's owner and members of the band whose pyrotechnics show allegedly caused the tragedy. Several coffins, many draped with flags of the victims' favorite soccer
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Going ahead with natural gas infrastructure plans is important both financially and politically, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Neoclis Sylikiotis has said. In statements he made after a meeting he had with Board of Directors of Cyprus’ Hydrocarbons State Company (KRETYK) Sylikiotis noted that plans to construct a natural gas liquidation (LNG) plant should
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Minister of Finance Vassos Shiarly has stressed that Cyprus has nothing to hide and expressed Cyprus’ readiness to acquiesce any money laundering or exchange of information for taxation purposes related probe by any relevant organisation. Shiarly was called on to comment on a Financial Times article, according to which Cyprus is in talks over hiring
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Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Cyprus bailout, both domestic and non-resident banks deposits rose in December according to figures released on Monday by the Central Bank of Cyprus. Total deposits rose by EUR 215.8 mln to EUR 70,157.4 million (EUR 70.2 bln) in December from EUR 69,941.6 mln in November. This increase made up one-third
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Fitch Ratings has downgraded the Republic of Cyprus's long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Rating (IDRs) to 'B' from 'BB-', with the short-term IDR affirmed at 'B' and the outlook on the long-term IDRs at ‘negative’. The downgrade partially reflects the agency's view that the size of the government support to the banking sector
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