This year will be written in gold in the annals of Cypriot tourism, as one record follows another, acting director of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) Annita Demetriades said recently.

Shipping was the main mode of goods transportation in a majority of EU member states in 2015, according to Eurostat.

Investment-grade rating for Cyprus’ sovereign debt is still some way off but has been “notching up nicely” over the past year, and Bank of Cyprus is following it up, CEO John Hourican said.

Hellenic Bank foresees a positive macroeconomic outlook this year, a reduction in unemployment, and further improvement of key domestic indicators.

The Cyprus Central Bank announced the start of the first evaluation regarding the state of the country’s banks by the Troika following Cyprus’ exit from the bailout.

“Tourism is the steam-engine driving the Cyprus economy,” expressed Harris Loizides, president of the Cyprus HotelAssociation (CHA).

The government is planning to gradually reduce the levels of government spending and revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product over the next three-year period to levels last seen before the adoption of the euro from around 40% of the economy last year.

In July, the retail value and volume indices in Cyprus rose 1.7% and 0.1% respectively compared to July 20015, the statistical service said.

Bulgaria would hope to attract natural gas from Cyprus if its planned gas hub at the Black Sea, to transport gas from Russia and the Caspian Sea to southern and central Europe, goes ahead, it said recently.

Non-performing exposures in Cyprus fell by €687.6m in June 2016, to €24.7bn, compared to the month previous month, mainly on a drop in the delinquent loans of companies, the Central Bank of Cyprus said.