The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is now subsidising the provision of business advisory services to small and medium-sized enterprises of Cyprus (SMEs).

Economists disagree over how fast the Cyprus economy will grow this year, with the University of Cyprus Economics Research Centre (ERC) forecasting a bullish 2.4% in 2016.

The Cyprus Development Bank (cdbbank) will strengthen its presence in Cyprus with new offices and a branch in Limassol.

The Housing Finance Corporation recently announced new lending rated below 3% – the lowest in the Cyprus market.

The trade deficit was €224.2mn in January 2016 compared to €128.3mn in the corresponding month of 2015, according to the new monthly electronic report 'Intra-Extra E.U Trade Statistics (Summarised Data)' for January 2016 published by the Statistical Service of Cyprus.

The Chairman of the Cyprus Land and Building Developers' Association, Pantelis Leptos, has noted the upward trends recorded in the recent months concerning property sales, highlighting the ability of Cyprus' market to attract foreign investors from many different countries.

Hellenic Bank, Cyprus’ third largest lender, said that it expects economic growth to accelerate to 2% in 2016, up from 1.6% in 2015, gradually helping reduce unemployment and non-performing loans, even as the latter continue to pose a major risk to stability.

The Cooperative Central Bank, Cyprus’ second largest lender, restructured a total of 2,680 loans worth €324m in Q1 2016, the Cyprus News Agency reported recently, citing the bank’s chief executive officer Nicholas Hadjiyiannis.

Cyprus has made some progress in transparency and taxation matters, but there is more to be done, Alain Lamassoure, chairman of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Corporate Taxation II (TAXE2) said recently.

Around 25 sailboats from Israel are expected to arrive at Larnaca marina toward the end of April 2016 for the Hebrew Passover, which overlaps with the Greek Orthodox Easter period, according to the marina chief Christos Petrides.