. By Fiona Mullen, Director, Sapienta Economics Ltd On February 25, Gazprom’s Marketing & Trading arm signed a heads of agreement with Levant LNG Marketing Corporation to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Israel’s Tamar gasfield. The LNG, to be produced using a floating LNG plant, a fairly new technology, will be sold by Gazprom

. By George Theocharides Cyprus International Institute of Management At last, after a prolonged campaign period, elections are over and the new Cypriot government has taken over from March 1. Expectations are high, and there seems to be a revived optimism that a new government, with fresh and innovative ideas, will help us resolve (sooner

.  * A retroactive deposit tax would be smarter * By Fiona Mullen The election of Nicos Anastasiades to the presidency has probably improved the chances of a bailout. But it has yet to bring consensus on how to ensure that the debt burden will be sustainable. According to earlier (probably outdated) estimates, the debt

. By Costis Stambolis When it became obvious back in 2010 that Greece’s financial woes were far more serious and extended than originally perceived and that the mess that the country was in was not entirely due to gross mismanagement of the public sector, a decision was taken by the Troika, i.e the IMF, the

. By Dr. Jim Leontiades Cyprus International Institute of Management Whether we like it or not, Cyprus is part of a great experiment in economics. Having studied their subject for some 250 years one might have hoped that economists had arrived at some agreement on what many see as the world’s main economic problem– how

. One has to give credit to the Swedes: it’s not just Nokia, Saab and IKEA. These Scandinavians actually do care about the wellbeing of their people, with the exception of the occasional horse-flavoured meatballs, even though some might say, “so, what?” The Swedes and their cold neighbours are also envied for their generous welfare

. Why is it that the communists in Cyprus and the rest of Europe are such sore losers? The ink from Sunday’s presidential election results had hardly dried and an uncoordinated campaign quickly got underway criticising President-elect Nicos Anastasiades’ every move. The silliest statement came from one commentator saying that the election winner was wrong

. By Shavasb Bohdjalian Approved Investment Advisor and CEO of Eurivex Ltd. The decision of 11 EU member states to impose a levy on all transactions in shares, bonds and derivatives such as forex and CFD trades is likely to worry many Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs) which one way or another will be affected by

. By Nondas Cl. Metaxas Director General-CEO of the CSE As is already widely reported, the Republic of Cyprus is currently in an ongoing authorisation procedure regarding the licensing of the plots of the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic, for the purpose of extracting hydrocarbons. The efforts can yield significant benefits to our country,

. The second round of the presidential elections next Sunday (24/2/2013) leaves voters with a simple choice – do we or don’t we get out of the mess we are currently in. The constant delays by the government to do anything with the romantic hope that the natural gas discoveries will (some day) prevent a