The trailing 12-month global speculative-grade default rate finished at 12.5% in the fourth quarter of 2009, down slightly from 12.6% in the previous quarter, Moody's Investors Service said in its latest monthly default report. During the fourth quarter, the global default rate peaked in November at 12.9%, which surpassed 2001's peak of 10.4% and 1991's
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Euro MP Ioannis Kasoulides has joined two European think tanks that focus on democracy and cultural diplomacy. He is now a board member of the European Popular Party’s Robert Schuman Foundation, currently headed by former Commission President Jacques Santer, and was invited as a member of the advisory board of the Berlin-based Institute for Cultural
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Cyta reports 1.2 mln in first hour of 2010 Fewer SMS messages of well wishes were sent over the new year period than the record number during the Christmas period, according to state-owned telco Cyta. The total number New Year wishes from Cytamobile-Vodafone users between 8pm on New Year’s eve and 12 noon on Saturday,
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Socialist Edek party leader and House Defence Committee Chairman Yiannakis Omirou said that many young men are evading their national service due to a loophole in the law. Commenting on new reports that many have not even shown up for community service, as prescribed by the new law, Omirou said that “there are no satisfactory
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Property worth over EUR 1 mln to be taxed The government has bowed to intense pressure from real estate developers and the opposition DISY party over its plans to amend the reappraisal of the island’s property tax system, which was supposed to raise up to EUR 100 mln in additional revenue as part of the
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Total loans advanced by banks and Cooperative Credit Societies at the end of November 2009 increased by 7.2% year-on-year to EUR 57.45 bln, but fell EUR 300 mln compared to EUR 57.7 bln in loans outstanding end-October 2009, according to the monthly Monetary Survey of the Central Bank of Cyprus. Loans to domestic residents increased
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Limassol continues to lead in the number of smoking ban violations and fines imposed by the police ever since the new law for public areas came into effect on January 1. Some owners of coffee shops complained, but the vast majority of smokers and the general public seems to have accepted the new ban. Although
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Insurance claims from the recent storms and floods in September, as well as those at the end of October, totalled 10 mln euros, according to the Insurance Association of Cyprus. The insurance industry body said that damages from the storms and flooding between October 27 and November 2 were greater than the whirlwind and storms
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After a dismal 2008, world stock markets staged a spectacular rebound from their March lows, ending 2009 on a high note even though many economies remained in crisis and continued to need government assistance, but confidence has not been completely restored, which is why the outlook for 2010 is uncertain. Cyprus stocks were among the
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Andis Hadjicostis, CEO of the family-controlled Dias media group and Sigma TV, was gunned down as he was leaving his home in the capital’s diplomatic neighbourhood of Engomi Monday night. The murder took place just after 8pm, according to initial police reports, that added on Tuesday morning that the gunman probably shot Hadjicostis with a
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