The practical difficulties the banking sector is facing regarding the implementation of a loan agreement Cyprus has signed with its international lenders will be the main issue of discussion at today’s meeting, in Frankfurt, between the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and the President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi.

The Association of Cyprus banks (ACB) expressed strong reservations on Monday about a proposed bill to reduce lending rates by providing disincentives for financial institutions that offer high deposit rates.

An official on Tuesday confirmed Noble Energy’s proposal to the government for an alternative method of bringing natural gas onshore from Block 12 solely for domestic electricity production.

The Italian energy giant ENI has offered scholarships to two Cypriots for postgraduate studies in energy, the environment and economics.

Cytamobile-Vodafone has reduced international roaming charges for countries within the EU, according to a statement released yesterday.

The Technical School of Avgorou were the overall winners of the solar power challenge which was held in Paphos at the weekend, with the Best Design Award going to the Philadelphia University Jordan. Third place went to the St. Lazarus technical school.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday upgraded the sovereign foreign credit rating on Cyprus to CCC-plus from selective default.

Countries around the world cut back on their holdings of euros as a percentage of foreign exchange reserves last year as the sovereign debt crisis kept investors wary, the European Central Bank said on Tuesday.

An announcement by Moody’s rating agency describing Cyprus’ exchange of €1 billion of domestic maturing government bonds as default does not constitute a rating action, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

The exchange of €1 billion worth of government bond has been successfully completed, the Public Debt Management Office of the Ministry of Finance has announced.