The unemployment rate in Cyprus fell in April 2017 to 11.6%, remaining the third-highest in both the euro area and the European Union, the EU’s statistical office Eurostat said.

The central cooperative bank (CCB) said recently it has recorded a net profit of €7m in 2016 even after raising its provisions for bad debts by €116.5m.

The Index of Industrial Production recorded an increase of 8.7% in the period January-March 2017, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Marios Demetriades, is in London to promote Cyprus as shipping destination.

Representatives from the majority of Cyprus Investment Firms participated in an event organised by the two largest Advisory Groups in the sector, K.Treppides & Co and MAP S.Platis, titled 'Is Cyprus capable of remaining the leading jurisdiction for financial services in EU?'.

Bank of Cyprus, the island’s largest lender, said that it generated a €2m after tax profit in the first quarter of the year, as much as in the past quarter, compared to €50m in January to March 2016.

Yields dropped marginally to minus 0.05% when the government auctioned €100m in 13-weeks treasury bills, the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) said.

Revenue from tourism rose in March 2017 6.4% compared with the respective month of 2016 to €86.1m, the statistical service said.

Citi Research, a division of the US bank and financial services provider Citigroup Inc, said that it will initiate coverage of Bank of Cyprus with a target price of €4.10 per share with a 'buy rating', adding that it expects a €4.5bn reduction of bad loans by 2019.

Total deposits in the Cypriot banking system fell by €155.4m in April to €49.2m, the largest monthly drop since June 2015, the Central Bank of Cyprus said recently, while total credit fell by €96.6m to €54.6bn.