The Eastern Mediterranean is on the road to becoming a major hydrocarbon producer, John Tomich, Noble Energy's Cyprus country manager has said.

The state and Total recently signed a deal for further exploration works in the island’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Tourism arrivals rose 12% to 50,709 in February 2015 compared to a year before, mainly on increased arrivals from the United Kingdom, Greece, Israel and France, offsetting a drop from Russia.

Parliament recently voted to ban foreclosures of homes whose owners could not acquire title deeds and could be at risk of losing their property because the developers could not repay their loans or have become insolvent.

Airports’ operator Hermes is conducting a study into how the old Larnaca airport, lying idle for the past six years, could be used, lawmakers heard recently.

Hermes Airports is confident that a plunge in the number of Russian travellers coming and going through its gates, and the collapse of Cyprus Airways, will have minimal effect on its total passengers in 2015.

French giant TOTAL and the Cyprus government are expected to put pen to paper over an amended deal for offshore plot 11 of the island’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The trade deficit narrowed to €94.8 mln in January 2015, compared to €300 mln in December 2014, which saw the past year close at a wider €3.7 bln.

Construction companies want VAT reduced to 5.0% and other incentives in a bid to stimulate the flagging sector.

In a bid to rein in its non performing loans, the Housing Finance Corporation (HFC) will hire additional staff to handle arrears, the organisation’s chairman Loizos Papacharalambous told MPs recently.