The European Central Bank purchased since July 2015 a total of €98m in Cypriot government securities with an average maturity of 5.27 years as part of its expanded asset purchase programme.

The Cabinet has approved the 2016 budget, which Finance Minister Haris Georgiades described as ‘balanced’ and included a 5% increase in development spending.

The Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA), currently in the midst of negotiating a contract worth some $4bn, will soon convene its board to discuss allegations of a conflict of interest in relation to the natural gas tender.

With a changing regulatory landscape, no country has a clear tax advantage over the other anymore. It’s a new game with new considerations, says First Names MD Christos Michael.

Cyprus inflation was down to -1.9% in August 2015, compared to -2.4% in July 2015, while the rate was 0.8% in August 2014.

Cyprus’ finance minister says the bailed-out country’s economy will see sufficiently satisfactory growth in 2015 as it emerges from three years of recession.

Low-cost airline Ryanair recently unveiled a new route from Larnaca to Brussels (Zaventem), to operate twice a week starting in January 2016, but couldn’t resist a dig over airport charges in Cyprus, and the Irish airline’s failed bid for the defunct Cyprus Airways.

Shipping is central to Cyprus’ goal to become an energy hub, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis told Martime Cyprus delegates on the last day of the three-day conference held recently.

In the next few days Cyprus will have an idea of whether a large natural gas reserve recently discovered off the coast of Egypt extends inside the island’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said recently.

Bank of Cyprus is seeking to get “a feeling” on how investors in London would react to a possible security issue which would help the lender repay its outstanding emergency liquidity to the European Central Bank, a bank source said recently.