In the wake of President Nicos Anastasiades’ statement conceding to discuss the issue of hydrocarbons as part of the Cyprus problem negotiations, Turkey issued a new NavTex (navigational telex) reserving areas in the eastern Mediterranean – parts of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone among them – from January 6 to April 6, 2015.

The last bill of the insolvency package is ready and it is in the hands of the Troika for scrutiny, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said recently.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) will include Bank of Cyprus as a constituent in its CSE General Index and CSE Main Market indices from January 9, 2015, by using a capped free-float methodology to stop the bank from dominating the indices.

Consumer prices fell an annual 1.4% last year which is a historical low for Cyprus, on declining energy prices while defying the impact of recent consumer tax hikes, the statistical service said recently.

Cyprus plans two international debt issues this year, its finance minister said recently, seeking a firmer footing in markets after a near meltdown in 2013.

Demetra Investment Plc Ltd which owns more than 10% of Hellenic Bank’s share capital, said that the net asset value of its share on December 31, 2014 was €0.7069.

Cyprus’ natural gas reserves would be best utilised for chemical production and domestic consumption, an American/Canadian company TRU Group has proposed.

The total number of property transactions rose an annual 20% in 2014 to 4,527, the department of lands and surveys said recently.

New foreign company legislation is set to come into effect in Cyprus on 1st January 2015 which will affect many offshore company structures established in Cyprus. The legislation, known as the Deoffshorisation Law, was approved by Russia’s State Duma on 18th November 2014 in an effort to establish a mechanism for the taxation of incomes of controlled foreign companies (CFC).

FXPRIMUS, the Mauritius-based FX/CFD broker, announced recently that its European entity, FX Primus Europe (CY) Ltd. has been granted a CySEC Investment Firm (CIF) License from the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission.