The 2014 state budget is focused on the reduction of expenditures, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades told parliament recently, adding that cuts will reach around 10%.

Central Bank officials recently assured that Cyprus has no plan to sell gold reserves to fund its €10 billion bailout.

Fitch Ratings says that the funding and liquidity profiles of banks in southern Europe have generally stabilised, with the exception mainly of Greece and Cyprus, where funding imbalances persist.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is putting in place two innovative instruments worth €150 million in support of SMEs in Cyprus.

The Cyprus Chamber of Commerce (CCCI) welcomes Qatar Airways’ decision to schedule flights to Cyprus, reflecting the expansion of Cyprus-Qatar business relations.

The Finance Minister in his 2014 budget speech said Cyprus had avoided economic collapse, but that living standards would continue to fall for another three years.

In the period of 2010-2012 the GDP per capita expressed, in purchasing power standards (PPS) and the actual individual consumption (AIC) per capita has decreased in Cyprus.

The Cypriot economy is notexpected to return to growth before 2017, according to a winter Eurozone Forecast put together by professional services firm Ernst and Young.

Cyprus and Egypt recently signed a unitisation agreement on the joint exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves, on the bordering line between the two countries’ respective exclusive economic zones (EEZ).

Russia will not be placing Cyprus on a blacklist of non-cooperative tax havens after the two governments cleared up the matter, says the chief of the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA).