Austrian airline Laudamotion is about to start flights from Vienna to Paphos, a move welcomed by the Paphos regional tourism board recently.

While demand of both households and corporations for lending rose in the first three months of the year and is expected to continue to do so in the second quarter, banks are likely to keep their lending standards unchanged, the central bank said.

Residential property prices rose in the fourth quarter of 2017 a quarterly 0.8% for houses and 1.4% for flats, the Cyprus branch of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said.

Deposits in the Cypriot banking system rose in April 2018 by €2.4bn to €50.5bn, almost matching the government’s Cyprus Cooperative Bank deposit, and aided by an ongoing deleveraging they exceeded loans for the first time since May 2012, the central bank said.

Cyprus is gaining ground in the field of space technology services, and had already granted ten licences to organisations to launch telecommunication satellites using the space that Cyprus has secured through the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The government has sold €100m in 13-weeks treasury bills on Friday, 25 May, 2018 at an average yield of minus 0.27%, the lowest ever, the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO), said.

The energy ministry is looking at various scenarios for achieving the EU-wide target of reducing carbon emissions by 2020, MPs were told recently.

French oil and gas giant Total is interested in buying into other licensed offshore blocks in addition to block 8, MPs heard recently.

Bank of Cyprus said recently it has reduced non-performing exposures by €454m, or 5% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2018, as it registered a net profit of €43m.

Minister of Education Costas Hampiaouris and Rector of the University of Sorbonne, Gilles Pecout, have exchanged views on cooperation between the University of Sorbonne and the universities of Cyprus.