A joint mission from the Troika of international lenders (EC, ECB, IMF) will be back in Cyprus on Tuesday to conduct its eighth evaluation of economic adjustment programme, aka “bailout plan” that ends in March, three years after the €10 bln rescue was imposed. During their 10-day stay, the inspectors are expected to focus on

On November 2, 2015, the English-language Cyprus Mail, the longest newspaper on the island, will celebrate its 70th anniversary, a remarkable achievement for a tightly knit, family-run publication that prides itself on its independence and objectivity. When Jacovos ‘Jaco’ Jacovides published the first issue of the Cyprus Mail – then, just a tiny, two-page tabloid

Cyprus raised EUR 1 bln from the 10-year eurobond (EMTN) issued on Tuesday with a yield of 4.25%, the third attempt in the bond markets in a year, prompting Finance Minister Haris Georgiades to declare that Cyprus’ creditworthiness has been restored. The announcement confirms reports that the government would resort to the markets before the

Economic sentiment improved in October with the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) rising by 0.7 points, according to the Economics and Research Centre of the University of Cyprus (CypERC). The monthly survey said that this increase is due to the improvement of the business climate in manufacturing and a growing consumer confidence. In manufacturing, the less

The island’s financial assistance package may have been a success but significant challenges remain with the reduction of the high stock of non-performing loans (NPLs) considered as the top priority, a Bruegel think tank conference heard. “This financial assistance programme was a success and I would like to stand by that. We’ve seen the economy

President Nicos Anastasiades praised RCB Bank saying it is an international bank, which has become an integral part of the Cyprus banking sector and the country’s economy, but, most importantly, has provided tangible and substantial support to our country. “Now that our economy is recovering and returning to growth, we can only applaud RCB’s expansion

Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou said that the social expenditure in the 2016 budget of her Ministry marked an increase. Speaking in a joint Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee hearing, Emilianidou said that from the total of EUR 954.2 mn, which is the budget of the Ministry, the EUR 892.2 mln or 94% concern social benefits,

The Ministry of Finance said it sold EUR 11.78 mln six-year retail bonds due from Novenmber, mildly oversubscribed above the monthly target of 10 mln. The Public Debt Management Office, said that for the first eleven series (January-November) the Ministry of Finance sold a total of EUR 194.6 mln worth of the government bonds, of

Fitch Ratings upgraded on Friday Cyprus’ long term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) by two notches to ‘B+’ up from ‘B-’ with a positive outlook, saying that “Cyprus has established a track record of fiscal consolidation and over-performance on its fiscal targets.” The rating agency said that Cyprus’ senior unsecured foreign and