Fitch Ratings has placed Hellenic Bank’s long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of ‘B’ and Viability Rating (VR) of ‘b’ on ratings watch positive (RWP). Fitch has also affirmed the lender’s short-term IDR at ‘B’.

The tax department said recently it has upgraded the tax payment section on the JCCsmart website, aiming at making it more user friendly.

The Finance Minister said that Cyprus is under ‘intense pressure’ created by an increasingly strict banking supervisory framework to once more modernise its insolvency and foreclosure legislation, with banks facing potential fresh losses.

Cyprus Casinos (C2), the first authorised casino in the Republic of Cyprus has opened in Limassol.

Deposits in the Cypriot banking system rose in May 2018 by €201.2m in a month, to €50.9bn, as total lending fell by €66.8m, to €48.8bn, the Central Bank of Cyprus said.

Cyprus ranks 21st among the 28 EU nations on the European Commission’s latest digital scoreboard, published recently.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange said that it lifted the suspension of trading in Hellenic Bank, Demetra Investments and Logicom securities after being instructed to do so by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The economic sentiment fell in June 2018 by 7 units to 109.1, as business confidence retreated across all sectors as consumers also got the jitters, the University of Cyprus said.

The government is considering a request for the construction of a small dock in Cyprus paid for and under the control of Israel as a means of relieving the isolation of the Gaza Strip, deputy government spokesman Klelia Vasiliou said recently.

Hellenic Bank said that it signed with the Cyprus Cooperative Bank a business transfer agreement allowing it to acquire the latter’s healthy part and a subscription agreement with Bravo Strategies III, a fund owned by Pacific Investments Management Company LLC (PIMCO).