Plans to hire up to 1,000 young people with a €4 million budget will be announced by the end of 2015, according to Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou who was speaking at the annual conference of the Democratic Labour Federation of Cyprus (DEOK).

The European Commission has adopted a key investment package for the Cypriot maritime, fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

New figures from the Cyprus Central Bank show that non-performing loans now account for a staggering 46.82% of the total loans in the local banking system - amounting to €27.75 billion.

Bank of Cyprus said that the maximum amount of government bond the Central Bank of Cyprus could buy from the secondary market as part of the European Central Bank’s expanded asset purchase programme is €977m, out of €2.2bn in maximum securities purchases allocated for the country.

A procedural letter of information from the company awarded the development of the Ayia Napa marina to the Commerce Ministry was falsely interpreted as a red flag for impending delays in construction, managing director Stavros Caramondanis said recently.

Bailed-out Cyprus ranks first worldwide in non performing loans but the co-operative sector is doing its best to address the problem, Co-operative Central Bank chief Nicolas Hadjiyiannis assured recently.

President Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras have discussed the latest developments regarding the Greek debt crisis.

President Nicos Anastasiades has said interest rates in Cyprus must be reduced further to converge with the European standards.

The Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA) has until the end of July 2015 to conclude a deal for the purchase of natural gas to be used for generating electricity.

The government’s negotiations with the Zenon consortium over the development of the Larnaca port and marina have been ended definitively, the government has announced.