A record number of 659 hopefuls submitted their candidacies on Wednesday for the island’s May 30 parliamentary elections whose outcome is more unpredictable than ever, according to Philenews.

Construction improved in the first two months of 2021, with the number of building permits issued increasing 1.9% on the year before despite a lockdown in January.

Cyprus’ economic activity contracted sharply in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis, albeit less than the EU average, but a 3.1% GDP rebound is expected this year, according to the EU Commission spring forecast.

Cyprus has climbed to fourth place among EU states in terms of the number of vaccine doses per 100 people in the total population, the health ministry said on Wednesday as it announced that ages 22-24, 50-55 and 56-58 will be able to book appointments on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Cypriot scientists say an additional shot against the coronavirus could improve immunity for vaccinated people as well as fight against new variants, with the EU preparing to order booster vaccines despite warnings from the bloc’s drug regulator against making "premature" moves.

More than half (53%) of responding business tax leaders expect greater tax enforcement in the next three years, particularly as governments look to remedy budget pressures and stimulate their economies during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the 2021 EY Tax Risk and Controversy Survey . EY teams canvassed the views of 1,265 tax and finance leaders across 60 jurisdictions and 20 industry sectors during the fourth quarter of 2020, making it the largest sample in the survey’s history.

The loans on the books of EU banks that remain under long-running moratoria are more likely to underperform, with credit quality particularly uncertain in Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and Hungary, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report published Tuesday.

Passenger traffic in the first days of May marked α significant rise with flights in Cyprus’ two international airports in the fist nine days of the month accounting for 59% of the total traffic in the previous month.

According to data released on Tuesday, a significant increase of 14.9% was recorded in vehicle registrations in the first four months of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020.

Cyprus’ health authorities estimate that the country’s Covid-19 vaccination rollout will have surpassed 400,000 milestone by Wednesday, helped by a recent uptake in AstraZeneca shots.