Cyprus Business Now: weekly wrap-up
Here are the top business stories in Cyprus from the week starting December 1:
Cyprus secured its seat in Category (c), maintaining its position within the organisation’s executive body for another term.
According to the IMO announcement, the Council will continue to represent all major maritime regions, with the newly elected members set to convene for their 136th session on December 4, when they will choose the Council’s Chair and Vice-Chair for the 2026–2027 biennium.
The programme, developed and delivered by Zubr Capital specialists, is designed to complement academic studies with a strong practical component.
As part of its long-term expansion strategy, the firm now operates as a locally established investment company in Cyprus, managing $250 million across 30 technology businesses, including two unicorns, backed by investors such as the EBRD, FMO and Wargaming.
Against this backdrop, the fifth edition of The League of Analysts brought together students from both Poland and Cyprus, creating a cross-border training environment closely aligned with the company’s regional footprint.
Under the deal, customers will have to be clearly informed of all fees before making a payment, including currency conversion costs and ATM withdrawal charges, regardless of who operates the machine.
The measures also aim to secure access to cash in rural and remote areas, as retailers will be allowed to provide withdrawals of up to €150, and at least €100, without requiring a purchase, as mentioned in Philenews.
At the same time, the agreement seeks to open up competition in the payments market. Negotiators backed measures to remove obstacles for open-banking services, ensuring that authorised account-information and payment-initiation providers can access account data on a non-discriminatory basis.
This reflected a 10.1 per cent increase compared with €454.1m in the same month of 2024, continuing the upward trend recorded throughout the year.
For the January to September 2025 period, total tourism receipts rose to €2.97 billion, up 15.4 per cent from €2.58 billion a year earlier.
In its announcement, Cystat noted that the increase was supported by stronger arrivals and steady expenditure levels across key markets.
September arrivals reached 570,635, compared with 509,463 in September 2024, while the average expenditure per person stood at €876.01, slightly lower than the €891.29 recorded last year.
The latest figures from the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBN) show excess liquidity edging towards €31bn, confirming a trend already noted in recent analyses of the sector’s strong fundamentals,including rising deposits in September.
According to Thursday’s data, total deposits reached €57.6bn in October, while total loans stood at €26.8bn.
The gap remains far from the conditions of 2013, when loans exceeded deposits by roughly €17bn, a reversal that has been repeatedly documented in recent coverage of banking-sector strengthening, such as the overview of broader economic performance published earlier in November.
Their discussion centred on the progress of the Presidency preparations, with particular emphasis on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028–2034, which remains one of Cyprus’ top priorities.
Keravnos outlined the Presidency’s planning and intentions, noting the need for close cooperation with the relevant Council bodies to achieve meaningful progress during the term.
He also said Cyprus will make full use of the coordination procedures foreseen for the Presidency, ensuring the smooth and timely advancement of the related files.
In its announcement, the company said that “for the first time in the history of Cyprus airports, passenger traffic has reached 13 million passengers since the beginning of this year (departing and arriving)”.
It explained that the achievement reflects the steady expansion of the island’s air links, “as a result of long-term efforts and cooperation between Hermes Airports, tourism operators and the atate”.
The company also noted that “every milestone is much more than a number”, pointing out that this year’s traffic corresponds to 160 routes operated by 60 airlines across 41 countries, showing how wide Cyprus’ reach has become.
The figure, which has hovered around €200,000 in recent years, forms part of the authority’s dedicated gambling addiction rehabilitation fund, financed through three per cent of annual licence fee revenue.
According to an accompanying document, and mentioned by philenews, the fund is embedded in the authority’s wider strategic plan, which falls under the directorate of social protection, responsible gaming and communication.
In practice, this means the money supports a series of interventions ranging from research and prevention to treatment and staff training.
These include conducting studies and designing evidence-based preventive actions, promoting self-protection tools, offering support and treatment services for those with problematic or pathological gambling, and training casino and service-provider employees.
Held in the last week of November, the session brought together GenPro Managing Director Maria Theodosiou, Columbia Group’s Christina Orfanidou, Head of Group AI, and Margarita Maimonis, CEO of Exelia Technologies, in a fireside chat attended both in person and online. Their discussion centred on this year’s theme, ‘Single Point of Truth: Turning AI into Action in Sourcing and Procurement’.
Speaking at Evel, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s annual general meeting, president of Larnaca’s chamber, Nakis Antoniou said activity at the former terminal “is progressing at a satisfactory pace and is already at very good levels”, noting that major operators have begun choosing it as a base.
He pointed to Bird Aviation and United Aerospace Maintenance Company (UAMCO), whose presence, he said, is creating “new prospects in the aviation sector”, a goal the chamber has pursued for the past two years.
According to Antoniou, the development of specialised support services, including aircraft maintenance, repair and technical operations, is turning the old airport area into “a strategic service centre for airlines in the Eastern Mediterranean”.
The launch was marked at an event at Larnaca International Airport on Tuesday, with Aegean noting in its announcement that the new service “ensures direct access to a strategically important European destination” in view of the upcoming presidency.
The airline will operate three weekly flights in December, rising to five per week between January and June 2026.
According to the company, the route forms part of its wider 2026 development plan, which includes an eight per cent increase in capacity compared with 2025 and brings total seats to and from Cyprus to around 1.5 million.
This, it added, reflects the strategic importance of the Cypriot market and the firm’s commitment to strengthening the island’s connectivity.
The group, operating through UMAR Shipping Services and WSR Ship Repairs, provides technical, supply and repair solutions across the global fleet.
Its participation broadens the incentives available to certified companies, while supporting the Green Award’s mission to reward front-runners in safety, quality and environmental performance.
Under the partnership, Green award certificate holders will benefit from discounts on selected UW Group-branded products and services, including marine lighting, instrumentation, hull cleaning, propeller polishing, inspections and other underwater operations.
The bill, due for detailed examination on Friday by the parliamentary finance committee, was revised over the summer after consultations between tax commissioner Soteris Markides and professional groups.
As mentioned in Philenews, under the latest draft, the tax inspector will issue three registered notifications, each giving a ten-day window for compliance or settlement, before any sealing order is implemented.
However, the Cyprus Bar Association has asked parliament to scrap the provision altogether, arguing that the procedure “is not legally correct and operates to the detriment of businesses.”
This represents an annual decrease of 163 people, or 1.5 per cent, compared with November 2024.
Based on the seasonally adjusted data, the number of unemployed increased to 10,078 persons in November, from 9,723 in October, following the usual seasonal pattern captured in the adjusted ones.
Cystat said the annual decline reflected fewer job seekers in construction, manufacturing, trade, and financial and insurance activities, as well as a reduction in newcomers to the labour market.
The decision comes at a time of healthy liquidity and a solid balance-sheet position.
According to the company, purchasing the full amount would cover approximately 9.8 per cent of its outstanding shares and around 20 per cent of the public float, marking a sizeable intervention in its equity base.
In practice, such a move is expected to reinforce shareholder value and strengthen returns for existing investors.
According to Diana Barsukova, who led InvestGame’s first-ever systematic review of the space, the sector has now expanded into a capital-intensive ecosystem that spans EdTech, Fitness & Wellness, and Entertainment & Social.
As she noted, gamified consumer apps built on explicit progression mechanics have generated more than $20.7 billion across 208 transactions since 2020, revealing a market that is both larger and more structurally important than most industry observers realised.
This feature is sponsored by GDEV, the Cyprus-headquartered global gaming group behind franchises such as Hero Wars and Island Hoppers, which also supports research initiatives examining the evolution of gaming and gamification across consumer markets.
The closed session brought key sectors together at a time when supply shortages, affordability concerns and quality-of-living issues increasingly influence the island’s economic competitiveness.
Opening the event, TechIsland’s general manager, Tanya Romanyukha, welcomed the participants and thanked them for joining the organisation’s first Town Hall.
Total new loans reached €624.9m, compared with €770.5m in September, when net new lending had stood at €447.9m.
According to the CBC, the monthly decline reflected weaker corporate borrowing, even as households continued to take out more loans for home purchases.
Net new housing loans increased to €117.5m in October, out of €158.7m in new contracts, compared with €112.9m in the previous month.
Consumer lending also strengthened, with net new consumer loans rising to €23.7m, from €21.2m in September.
By contrast, new lending to non-financial companies eased. Loans up to €1m decreased to €50.8m, out of €68.3m in new contracts, compared with €62.7m a month earlier.
The collaboration is being launched with a new campaign and video, spotlighting the impact of indoor air on health, well-being and longevity.
According to research cited by the company, indoor air can be up to five times more polluted than outdoor air, often affecting children, the elderly and families without them realising.
Against this backdrop, the airbeld device is positioned as a tool that monitors and records CO2 levels, dust particles, chemical substances and humidity, offering a clear picture of “what we are truly breathing” and how it may affect daily health.
Speaking about the partnership, Vezenkov said that “with airbeld, we can better understand what our children and families are breathing and make immediate changes. That is power.”
The index decreased by 0.68 points to 117.57 units compared with 118.25 units in October, reflecting a monthly drop of 0.6 per cent.
Among economic categories, services recorded the strongest annual increase at 3.1 per cent, while electricity registered the steepest annual decline of 7.9 per cent, followed by agricultural products, which decreased by 6.2 per cent.
Compared with October, agricultural products posted the largest monthly reduction of 7.6 per cent.
Compared with November 2024, clothing and footwear experienced the sharpest annual change with a decline of 7.6 per cent. Restaurants and hotels rose by 5 per cent, education increased by 3.3 per cent, and food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased by 3.1 per cent.
Cyprus now reports 98,2 per cent of enterprises with a fixed internet connection, while the demand for high-speed lines has grown sharply. 87,3 per cent of enterprises had download speeds above 100 Mbit/s in 2025, compared with 44,8 per cent in 2021.
The most common contracted speed was in the range of 100–499 Mbit/s with 36,5 per cent, followed by 1 Gbit/s and above with 26,2 per cent.
Only 2 per cent of enterprises maintained speeds below 30 Mbit/s.
Across the bloc, the profit share, the percentage of value added that remunerates capital rather than labour, declined by 1.6 percentage points from the previous year.
Cyprus remained above the EU mean, while the wider trend showed continued softening. In the EU, the profit share had stood at 40.4 per cent in 2004, rising to 42.1 per cent in 2007 before years of decline brought it to a two-decade low of 39.5 per cent in 2012.
Since then, the pattern has been uneven, with an increase from 40.2 per cent in 2020 to 42.1 per cent in 2021, followed by modest declines to 41.9 per cent in 2022, 41.7 per cent in 2023 and a sharper fall to 40.1 per cent last year.