The gap between deposits and loans in the Cypriot banking system shrank last month to a mere €3.1bn, the narrowest since January 2013, two months before the bail-in, the central bank said.

The launch of the new research centre on interactive media, smart systems and emerging technologies (Rise) took place recently in the old part of Nicosia, with participants underlining the potential for Cyprus to become a regional applied knowledge centre.

The state-owned Cyprus Cooperative Bank announced a net loss of €63.3m in the first nine months of this year, compared to a profit of €53.9m in the same period of 2016.

Cypriots are euphoric about the economy like never before as the economic sentiment index rose this month by 2.8 points to 119.5, an all-time high, on more optimism among companies in the services sector, the University of Cyprus said.

Cypriot banks need to take more radical action to reduce their mountain of delinquent loans amid a slowdown in restructurings even as economic growth is expected to reach 4% this year, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported citing Central Bank of Cyprus’ governor Chrystalla Georghadji.

The Cyprus chamber of commerce and industry (Keve) elected Christodoulos Angastiniotis as its new chief at its annual general assembly, following the departure of Phidias Pilides, who served the maximum allowed two terms at the chamber’s helm over the last six years.

The central government had €1.5bn deposited at its account at the Central Bank of Cyprus at the end of October 2017, less than a week before a partial repayment of its debt to the bank supervisor, the latter said.

Moody’s Investors Services said that despite the Cypriot economy’s robust growth the strong fiscal performance faces challenges related to its small size, relative lack of diversification and high levels of indebtedness.

On Monday, November 20th 2017, President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi arrived to Cyprus, a day ahead of the Trilateral Meeting among Cyprus, Greece and Egypt which takes place in Nicosia, with the participation of Anastasiades and Sisi, as well as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Cyprus has increased the number of tourists by an extra million visitors in only two years, and 93% of visitors say they would return, according to Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) chairman Angelos Loizou.