Tourism fell below 10% of GDP in 2009 when measured on a balance of payments basis, but business services were already worth 20% of GDP in 2008, according to the annual report “Statistics on Business Services” for the year 2008. According to the report value added at current market prices for the business services sector
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Almost all Cypriot businesses use computers these days, according to the annual survey ‘Information and Communication Technologies Usage and E-Commerce in Enterprises 2010’, which has been carried out in Cyprus for the seventh consecutive year. The survey found that 92.2% of enterprises are using a computer. All large (250 employees or more) and almost all
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Industrial companies are innovating more than service companies, according to the Innovation Survey carried out by the Statistical Service among enterprises with 10 or more employees. In total, it found that 56.1% of enterprises had some form of innovation activity during the period 2006-2008 but among industrial enterprises this proportion was higher, at 63.2% compared
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Germany has rejected the idea of a common euro zone bond without studying the proposal in detail, Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of the eurogroup of countries was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Juncker, who is also Prime Minister of Luxembourg, also said Germany had a non-European way of doing European business. Earlier this week, Juncker
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The U.S. government sold off its remaining shares in Citigroup Inc on Monday for $4.35 each, marking an exit from ownership in the bailed-out banking giant with a $12 bln gross profit for taxpayers. The U.S. Treasury said it will take in $10.5 bln in sale proceeds from a public offering of 2.4 bln Citigroup
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China is likely to raise interest rates in the coming days in a demonstration of the government's resolve to tame inflation, an official newspaper said on Tuesday. In a banner headline across its front page, the China Securities Journal said this weekend offered a "sensitive window" for a rate rise, which would be the country's
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The idea of euro area bonds is intellectually attractive but the European Financial Stability Facility is the mechanism for handling economic crises, the EU commissioner for monetary affairs said on Monday. Speaking ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers, Olli Rehn highlighted the fact that the 16 countries in the euro zone had
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The European Central Bank will continue to play a significant but supportive role in the battle to calm Europe's debt crisis and is attempting to normalise market turbulence where it exists, Governing Council member Athanasios Orphanides said on Monday. Cyprus central bank chief Orphanides, speaking at a news conference after the Cypriot bank published new
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Germany on Monday rejected the idea of increasing the size of the European Union's safety net and ruled out a proposal to issue a joint euro zone bond, but said it stood squarely behind the single European currency. Chancellor Angela Merkel cited legal obstacles to the issuance of a joint sovereign bond, or "E-bond" —
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Cyprus's central bank raised its growth forecasts on Monday, saying the island's economy should grow 0.7% in 2010 and 1.8% next year but action was needed to put deteriorating public finances in order. In a semi-annual report, the central bank said the upward revision followed positive performances by the tourism and financial services sectors. "The
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