Despite an increase in its R&D spending, Cyprus still has one of the EU’s lowest scores in R&D intensity, Eurostat figures showed recently.

Cyprus has been ranked the third most family friendly destination in Europe for a beach holiday, according to the Family Beach Index compiled by British travel firm On The Beach.

Cyprus’ passport was ranked 16th worldwide in terms of global access, according to the Henley Passport index.

EY has been recognized by Forrester Research as a leader in innovation consulting services in The Forrester Wave™: Innovation Consulting Services Providers, Q4 2018.

Cyprus’ external trade deficit for the period of January – November 2018 declined by 13.5% compared with the respective period of 2017 due to a spike in exports, according to provisional data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat).

Unemployment rates in Cyprus increased to 9.2% – 8.9% for men and 9.6% for women – amounting to 41,000 people in November 2018, compared with the previous month but remaining lower than November 2017 when 43,000 were unemployed, Eurostat said recently.

Drilling activities on behalf of ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum in the Delphine target in Cyprus’ offshore block 10 have been completed but there will be no announcements until after the end of drilling in the second location the energy consortium has chosen to explore, Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis, said recently.

Corporate deposits rate in Cyprus declined to 0.46% in November 2018 from 0.75% the month before, reaching a new historic low, according to data released recently by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC).

Global IPO proceeds rose in 2018, supported by investor confidence, large pools of liquidity, strong valuations and low interest rates. Until beginning December 2018, 1,359 IPOs had been registered with proceeds of US$204.8b – a 6% increase on proceeds despite a 21% decline in volume. The rise of unicorn-related IPO activity and mega IPOs were key factors in helping to push 2018 proceeds beyond 2017 levels. This trend is expected to continue into 2019, with the backlog of IPO candidates increasing and capital becoming more widely available.

The economic climate improved in December 2018 by 3.4 points, assisted by the improvement of the business climate in services and manufacturing industry.