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.

Three international entities have expressed interest in setting up shops, a small hotel and an exhibition space at the old Larnaca airport terminal building, Transport Minister Marios Demetriades said recently.

Tourist arrivals in March 2016 rose almost 41% to 137,013 compared to the respective month of 2015 mainly on increased arrivals from the United Kingdom, Cyprus’ largest source of incoming tourism, the statistical service said.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde congratulated the Cypriot authorities on the favourable economic results achieved under the adjustment programme.

In a recent decision of the District Court of Nicosia, it has been held that Cyprus Courts have jurisdiction to adjudicate on applications for enforcement of foreign judgments and foreign arbitral Awards, even if both the judgment creditor and judgment debtor reside outside Cyprus.

The Fitch Ratings agency has upgraded Bank of Cyprus’ covered bonds three notches, from B+ to BB+ with a stable outlook, one notch below investment grade.