The cabinet has agreed on a National Investment Fund to be established to handle future revenue from the management of natural gas resources, said Finance Minister Harris Georgiades recently.

The number of job vacancies in Cyprus dropped year on year in the first quarter of 2016 but the overall job vacancy rate was stable.

Cablenet, the Number 2 provider of triple play services and second biggest broadband provider in Cyprus, plans to introduce mobile service by the end of the year, transforming it into a quad play company.

Nicosia is aiming to put in place a State Secretariat for Development, with the main goal being to fast track licensing for large investments in the Cypriot economy.

The Cyprus business environment has been a site of constant changes this past decade, with a large number of mergers and acquisitions having taken place.

Seasonally adjusted GDP rose in Cyprus by +0.9% on a quarterly basis in the first quarter of 2016 and by +2.7% on an annual basis, according to an estimate published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Cyprus had €3.630 billion worth of exports outside the EU in 2015 of which €329 million to the USA, €142 million to Switzerland, €31 million to China, €10 million to Japan, €1.346 billion to Russia, €38 million to Canada, €9 to India, €2 Brazil and €4 to Hong Kong, according to Eurostat.

A private company has been given permission to create an electricity-producing photovoltaic park in the vicinity of Larnaca’s Salt Lake.

The government is in a hurry to get a vote in the House of Representatives on the package of legislation for reforming the Public Service, and the law on taxing immovable property.

French oil major Total will likely commence exploring for gas in their offshore Block 11 concession in early 2017, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said recently.