The numberof building permits authorised by the municipal authorities and the district administration offices during May 2013, stood at 380, announced the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus.

Negotiations between Cyprus and Noble-Delek over the construction of a natural gas liquefaction terminal are entering a substantive phase, said Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis.

President Nicos Anastasiades has expressed his conviction that Cyprus would pull through and overcome its problems, saying the fruits of today’s labour would be properly felt by 2015.

The Cyprus Department of Merchant Shipping has licensed a leading provider of maritime security solutions to supply armed and unarmed escort guard services on its flagged vessels transiting piracy high-risk areas.

The Co-operative Movement hopes to regain ownership of its banks within five years of their nationalisation, said outgoing general manager of the Central Co-operative Bank (CCB) Erotokritos Chlorakiotis yesterday.

With the former Laiki now BoC’s biggest shareholder, issue of how voting rights will be exercised is debated.

IMF confirms Cyprus' co-op banks will be recapitalised without a depositor ‘bail-in’.

The European Central Bank yesterday gave troubled lender Bank of Cyprus (BoC) the green light to resume drawing liquidity from the Eurosystem posting sovereign bonds as collateral.

President of the European Parliament (EP), Martin Schulz, has described the financial aid program adopted for Cyprus as painful, noting that justifiably it does not enjoy the full support of the entire European Union (EU), its Member - States and Cyprus itself.

Cyprus' programme is on track, according to the overall assessment of staff teams from the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which visited Nicosia during from July 17 to 31 for the first quarterly review of Cyprus’s economic programme, which is supported by financial assistance from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the IMF.