In November 2017, the Cyprus parliament voted a significant amendment to the Cyprus VAT Legislation (VAT Law – Amending Law No. 3) which amends the main VAT Law N.95(I)/2000 concerning taxation of building land, in order to align it with the provisions of EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC. The amendment was published in the Official Gazette on 13 November 2017 and will come into force on 2 January 2018.

The recent agreement to sell nine cooperative companies to its past owners will help the bailed-out Cyprus Cooperative Bank recover some lost ground in its capital basis, an executive said.

The recovery of the Cypriot economy, which is forecast to expand by 4% in 2017, has failed to produce the expected drop in delinquent loans, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported recently.

President Nicos Anastasiades expressed his satisfaction over the recent approval by the House plenum of the 2018 state budget.

The state budget for 2018 was approved on the night of December 13, 2017 after three days of debate in parliament.

Funds drawn by Cyprus under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (Efsi) reached €45m in November 2017, as the island was set to receive an additional €81m, the European Commission said.

The House of Representatives recently voted an amendment in the Income Tax Law regarding the capital allowances that can be claimed for certain types of assets.

Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Nicos Kouyialis has said that people in Cyprus are turning to agricultural production, while the sector’s contribution to the country`s GDP is growing.

The reduction of delinquent loans is key for the success of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank’s planned capital increase, a Co-op executive said, as it entered preliminary talks with potential strategic and institutional investors.

The harmonised consumer price index rose an annual 0.2% in November 2017 mainly on higher prices for energy and services, the statistical service said.