Standard and Poor's decision to place Cyprus on review for possible downgrade will not affect its plans to tap international markets later this year, Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said on Thursday. "It does not affect the plans of the government," Stavrakis said. "Certainly lower ratings theoretically could marginally increase borrowing costs, but …our ratings remain
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Cyprus' January – April 2010 Turnover Volume Index of Retail Trade decreased by 1.2% compared to the corresponding period of 2009, according to figures released on Wednesday by Cyprus Statistical Service. The Turnover Volume Index of Retail Trade for April 2010 amounted 109.1 units, recording a decrease of 6.6 units or 5.7% compared to 115.7
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— Fed chairman says U.S. outlook "unusually uncertain" – The yen neared a 7-1/2-month high and Asian stocks slid on Thursday after comments by the head of the Federal Reserve added to concerns about the U.S. economy, causing investors to dump riskier assets ahead of European bank stress test results. Major European stock markets were
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Retail sales fared poorly in April, a month in which tourism arrivals were also down sharply as flights were disrupted by volcanic ash. The turnover volume index of retail trade for April 2010 dropped by 5.5% compared with April 2009 and 5.7% over the previous month. The turnover value index for April fell by 3.3%
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The industrial turnover index for April 2010 fell by 3.7% compared with April 2009 according to the latest figures from the Statistical Service. For the period January-April 2010 the index recorded an increase of 1.7 % compared with the same period of the previous year. Industrial production in the same period fell by 1.3%. For
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Registrations of motor vehicles dropped by 14% over the year earlier the first six months of 2010 according to the latest figures from the Statistical Service. Total registrations reached 23,562 in January in June 2010 compared with 27,389 vehicles in the same period of 2009. Registrations of private saloon cars decreased by 16.8% to 16,514
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Turkey stands to gain a peace dividend of over EUR 17 billion every year from a solution of the Cyprus problem, according to new research published by the Cyprus Centre of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), with new annual gross revenue of EUR 12.3 billion and annual cost savings of EUR 5.1 billion. This
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Ratings agency Standard & Poor's Corp. warned the Cypriot government Wednesday that its credit rating could be lowered if it doesn't take action to protect the economy against fiscal pressures and the growing financial sector when the legislature reconvenes in September, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report. S&P said part of the problem stems
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The outlook for the Omani banking system remains stable, reflecting its remoteness from and relative resilience to the recent global economic turmoil, Moody's Investors Service said in its new Banking System Outlook on Oman. The stable outlook also incorporates the challenges faced by the banks to expand their franchise and maintain good credit quality metrics
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. Many small businesses around the world, especially in Turkey and the Middle East, plan to boost investment and hiring, a survey showed on Wednesday, at a time when the global outlook is increasingly uncertain. An index of confidence at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 21 markets rose to 118 in the second quarter
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