Italian energy firm ENI is planning two exploratory drills for natural gas in the island’s exclusive economic zone in the next couple of months, officials said recently.

Wedding tourism contributes €110 million a year to the economy, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) said recently.

Cabinet approved recently a proposal by Transport Minister Marios Demetriades to sign an agreement with the United Kingdom to acquire a piece of land near Vassilikos, in Limassol to construct an industrial and energy port that could be used by the hydrocarbon industry.

Brexit is expected to have a marginally negative but manageable impact on the Cyprus economy, as confirmed by the annual report of the Central Bank of Cyprus of December 2016. This conclusion is based both on the flexibility demonstrated by the tourism sector over the years and a gradual decline in reliance on the United Kingdom market, as well as the partial mitigation of the impact of a drop in the export of services to the United Kingdom from lower costs for the import of goods and services.

The leaders of Cyprus, Greece and Egypt recently reaffirmed their commitment to deepening the trilateral partnership among their nations, primarily in the areas of energy, security and counter-terrorism, tourism, technology and innovation.

Capital Intelligence, the Limassol-based rating company, said that it affirmed Hellenic Bank’s B+ financial strength rating and placed it on positive outlook citing an expected decline in bad debts resulting from economic recovery.

The creation of conditions for stability and confidence is a prerequisite for reinvigorating the economic activity in Cyprus, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said recently addressing the Reintroducing Ourselves, New Beginning conference in Nicosia.

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.