Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that the European Commission’s and the European Central Bank’s proposal to the EU Council that the Republic of Cyprus (A/Positive/A-1) and the Republic of Malta (A/Stable/A-1) be allowed to join the Eurozone in 2008 does not have any immediate impact on the sovereign ratings. “The expectation that both Malta
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Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today it lowered its long-term sovereign rating on the Republic of Latvia to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A-‘ due to the increasing risk of a hard landing and persistent external imbalances. The short-term sovereign credit rating was affirmed at ‘A-2’. The outlook is negative. At the same time, Standard & Poor’s
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Cyprus had the fourth best inflation rate in the EU in April, according to figures r by Eurostat. The annual harmonised inflation rate in Cyprus was 1.6% in April, compared to 1.4% in March, while the average in the Eurozone was 1.9% and in the EU as a whole 2.2%.The lowest rates were recorded in
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The primate of the church of Cyprus Archbishop Chrysostomos II has appealed to Moslem religious leaders to exercise their influence on Turkey in an effort to help protect religious holy sites in Turkish occupied Cyprus, pillaged for the past three decades. Speaking on his return from Brussels, having attended a meeting of the three monotheistic
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The US has expressed its wish to be part of any fresh effort, under UN leadership, to renew the stalled talks on Cyprus with a view to finding a negotiated settlement, US Undersecretary at the State Department Nicholas Burns has said. In his remarks to participants of the annual meeting of the International Coordinating Committee
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The newly appointed Chairman of the Cyprus Stock Exchange wants to modernize the exchange and improve operations further aimed at attracting even more institutional investors to the market. Georgos Koufaris, the new Chairman of the CSE, in his first meeting with the press promised to continue on the growth path set by his predecessor Akis
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Marfin Popular Bank has raised its profit forecast for 2008 and 2009 with the average growth in profitability now estimated at 39.6% and significant improvements noted in other ratios. Earlier, Marfin Popular CEO Andreas Vgenopoulos had raised the 2007 net profit forecast from EUR 360 mln to EUR 420 mln, including the EUR 50 mln
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An exploit detected by NanoScan, an online scanner from Panda Software, led PandaLabs on the trail to uncover Mpack, a program used to download malware onto remote computers by exploiting numerous vulnerabilites. Mpack has already been used in several cases. One of the versions that PandaLabs has had access to has been used to infect
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Credit Agricole Luxembourg, a subsidiary of Credit Agricole Group, has signed an agreement with Bank Sarasin & Co. Ltd, based in Basel, Switzerland, with a view to acquiring Sarasin’s Luxembourg subsidiary, Bank Sarasin Europe S.A. Once the acquisition goes through, subject to regulatory approval, Bank Sarasin Europe S.A. and Credit Agricole Luxembourg are scheduled to
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Parrot, one of the leaders in wireless peripherals around the mobile phone, has teamed with T-Mobile to offer T-Mobile customers Parrot’s leading range of hands-free products. The deal means that T-Mobile will now offer Parrot’s Bluetooth hands free kits to business customers signing up to several of its 24 months ‘Flext’ plans. Business users who
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