Cyprus’ economy is recovering at a swifter rate than previously thought, with real GDP on track to reach pre-pandemic levels by the fourth quarter of this year, credit ratings agency DBRS Morningstar said on Thursday.

Standard and Poor’s revised the country’s largest lender Bank of Cyprus’ outlook to positive from stable, following a new NPL transaction titled Helix 3, reducing its non-performing loans ratio to single digits, for the first time since 2013.

In 2020, household consumption expenditure in the EU decreased by an unprecedented 8% in 2020 compared with 2019, according to data published by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, on Friday. With a drop of 14.1% in expenditure Cyprus ranks 5th in the EU.

President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar have agreed to make way for the introduction of 5G across the island, UNFICYP said on Friday.

The energy and trade ministry has this year granted €127 million in the form of schemes, setting the foundation for economic recovery and green energy transition, Minister Natasa Pilides said on Thursday.

The European Commission is expected to grant state-owned asset management company Kedipes the necessary approval to operate as a bad bank during the second half of next year, the Cyprus News Agency reported on Thursday.

The Cypriot IT services market exceeded €100 million in total value this decade, reaching €113.16 million in value during the previous year, a rise of 12.8% since 2018, according to a report by market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

The government wants to lower the VAT on household electricity bills from 19% to 9% for the next three months, with the Finance Ministry consulting with Brussels on its intention.

The Cypriot economy has proven to be more resilient to the coronavirus crisis than initially expected, DBRS Morningstar says in a commentary.

The arrival of monoclonal antibody therapies in Cyprus is just a matter of time, according to the Deputy Director of Pharmaceutical Services of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Elena Panagiotopoulou.  Adding that the Procurement Department of the Ministry of Health is in direct contact with the manufacturing company.