Cyprus spent 13.1% of its GDP on social protection in 2017, below the EU average of 18.8% figures released by Eurostat recently show.

Our Law Firm noticed that during the past few months there is a growing interest by High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) from South Africa for the Cyprus Investment Program, a citizenship scheme that grants the Cypriot passport.

Tourist arrivals to Cyprus broke yet another record in February 2019 and in the first two months of the year, exceeding the number of tourists that visited the island during the same period in previous years.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said recently that the government is in talks with the European Investment Bank (EIB) over the latter’s financing of natural gas infrastructures.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades will try to secure US support for the Republic of Cyprus’ right to exploit its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) despite Turkish threats, similar to that expressed by the EU.

Recently, parents have become more sophisticated in investing their wealth to safeguard for their children’s future. More often, parents are willing and determined to start saving money for their children as soon as their baby is born (sometimes, even before the baby’s “arrival”). Typically, a parent’s primary concern is being able to pay their child’s educational costs and/or ensuring a better start for their children when they grow up and begin to purchase property or even launch their own business.

When property interests are given away during life or at death, taxes are imposed on their transfer, as per Cyprus's tax law. Such taxes are known as estate and gift taxes.

Tourism stakeholders anticipate a more difficult year because of challenges facing the three main markets — the UK, Russia and Germany - according to press reports.

Cyprus-based Eurobank posted improved net profits in 2018 of €42.5 million from €41.1 million the year before.

Limassol has been placed in the top 100 cities worldwide in Mercer’s quality of living rankings for 2019.