In an effort to deflect criticism from the EU and other international bodies over its Citizenship by Investment scheme, Nicosia has further tightened rules for foreign investors eyeing a Cyprus passport.

Maltese-owned Cyprus telecoms firm Cablenet has seen profits increase in H1 2019 while its customer base expanded by 9% to over 66,500 subscribers.

Cyprus is soon expected to acquire its first floating wind farm within its Exclusive Economic Zone.

Cyprus achieved the EU average in 2017 with 50% of internet users saying that they booked their holiday accommodation or travel arrangements online.

The cabinet recently approved the creation of an investment fund aimed at boosting economic growth, support startups and foster business innovation, according to a proposal put forth by Finance Minister Harris Georgiades.

Cyprus recorded the highest number of passengers on a single day this year at both Larnaca and Paphos airports on Wednesday, 21st August 2019, with a total of 312 flights and approximately 60,000 passengers travelling to and from the airports.

A revamp of Pattichion Park is the first of a number of new projects the Larnaca Municipality hopes to implement with EU financing in the near future, the town’s mayor Andreas Vyras told the press recently.

Cyprus is to make an early repayment in full of a €2.5b Russian loan secured during the financial crisis which has a remaining balance of €1.5b that expires in 2021.

The trend of unicorn IPOs coming to market and pushing their proceeds to historic levels continued in Q2 2019 despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and trade tensions, resulting in 507 IPOs in H1 2019, raising total proceeds of US$71.9b. While deal numbers were down 28% from H1 2018, first-day returns on the main markets were up 15.4% on average and post-IPO performance increased 28.4%.

Banks appear to be discouraging customers from turning up at their branches to conduct their business by introducing more fees and increasing existing ones as they would prefer you to go online.