Israel expects a decision to go ahead with the construction of a 2,000 kilometre pipeline linking vast eastern Mediterranean gas resources to Europe to be made by early 2019, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Reuters.

Cyprus last week paid €312.5m to the Russian Federation as a first instalment of a €2.5bn loan agreed more than six years ago and restructured in 2013, a Finance Ministry source said.

The administrator of the defunct Cyprus Popular Bank has received an offer from a Maltese fund to buy its stake in Malta’s Lombard Bank, a move favoured by the regulator.

Property transactions rose 46% to 666 in February 2018 compared to the respective month of 2017, mainly on strong performance of the real estate market in Paphos, the lands department said.

Revenue from tourism rose in 2017 by 12% to €2.6bn to an all-time high, aided by a 15% increase in arrivals to 3.7m, which was also a new record, the statistical service said.

Limassol-based rating agency Capital Intelligence has affirmed Cyprus’ long-term and short-term foreign currency sovereign rating at BB- and B and placed it on ‘positive’ outlook, upgrading from previously ‘stable’ amid risks related to high indebtedness.

Delinquent loans in the Cypriot banking system fell in November 2017 by €284.2m in a month and by almost ten times as much in a year to €21.1bn or to 43.7%, the lowest in almost four years, the central bank said.

CyprusProfile talks to Stelios Americanos, Managing Partner of Stelios Americanos & Co LLC, on key areas of opportunity or growth, and expectations for Cyprus in 2018

Hellenic Bank, the third largest Cypriot lender, said recently it had generated an after-tax loss of €45.7m in 2017, down from a €63.5m loss in 2016.

Cyprus’ unemployment rate fell to 9.8% in January 2018, from 10.3% in December, hitting a single digit for the first time in six years, the European Commission’s statistical office said.