Almost 90% of Cyprus’ exports, as well as over 80% of imports, to and from European Union member states are done by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), data published by Eurostat recently showed.

Bank of Cyprus, the island’s largest lender is pursuing a sale of a package of loans amounting to €450 million as part of its efforts to reduce its non-performing loans which amounted to €9.16 billion or 46.7% of its total loan book by end-September 2017.

Industrial Turnover recorded an increase of 8.6% in August 2017, compared to the same month of 2016, according to data released recently by the Statistical Service of Cyprus.

In 2016 the number of enterprises reached 93.066 compared to 90.162 in 2015, thus recording an increase of 3.2%, according to figures by the Cyprus Statistical Service.

Last month was the best October ever in terms of tourist arrivals which rose 14% compared to the same month of 2016 to 406,870, the statistical service said.

Less than ten years after the bursting of the Cypriot property market bubble, the sector has entered a tentative recovery phase, with the exception of Limassol, where it is already booming with prices and rents driven upwards at a fast rate which experts expect to continue in the foreseeable future.

In Cyprus, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.9% on a quarterly basis and by 3.9% on an annual basis during the 3rd quarter of 2017, according to a flash estimate published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Cypriot households and non-financial corporations saw their cumulative debt fall in the first quarter of the year, to 265.4% of economic output, from 268.3% at the end of 2016, the Central Bank of Cyprus said.

The ship management sector’s revenue rose 3% in the first half of the year to €472m compared with the previous six-month period and an annual 7.8%, amid a global oversupply in vessels, the Central Bank of Cyprus said.

Home prices rose for the sixth consecutive quarter in April to June 2017 after reaching their lowest point in the fourth quarter of 2015 accompanied by a recovery of commercial real estate prices pushing rents upwards, the Cyprus branch of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said.