When setting up a fund, Fund Managers know it takes time to come up with the initial concept, the investment strategy, the target market, the structure of the fund, the domicile and so on. Once these ideas are down on paper, the long registration process begins to obtain regulatory authorization and approval.

In a recent article published in the new year special edition of the Phileleftheros newspaper, prominent Cyprus business leaders were asked to comment on the year that was, and where they see the new year taking the Cyprus economy and business community. Managing Partner, Elias Neocleous expressed the view that whilst the consequences of the pandemic have been hard felt in Cyprus, given the level of government intervention both at an EU and local level, the consequences are manageable and will dissipate.

Minister of  Health Michael Hadjipantela said on Saturday that Deltacron, a new variant of COVID-19 found in Cyprus, was not something to worry about.

Vehicle registrations dipped by an annual 11.8% in 2021 to 34,716 from 39,367 the year before, and under 40% of saloon cars sold were new.

Cyprus is expected to introduce a national minimum wage by the end of January 2022.  According to information, the national minimum wage will be set at  45% - 60% of the national median salary in Cyprus which is €1,573.  However, the exact percentage has yet to be determined and will be established in the coming days.

The University of Nicosia announces that it has joined the European University Alliance, NEOLAiA (neoaliacampus.eu), as a full member. The alliance is currently preparing and will submit an application to the European Commission in March 2022 for a grant of €14.4 million over the next 4 years, under the European University Alliances funding scheme.

The Cypriot economy in 2021 recovered the output lost during the 2020 COVID crisis and will continue to grow with an average of 3.7% in the years 2022 – 2024, the Central Bank of Cyprus expects, according to its economic bulletin, stressing that risks to the baseline scenario are balanced albeit slightly upside concerning inflation.

The health ministry on Friday reminded the public that certain vaccination centres operate only for children aged 5 to 11 for specific hours following an appointment.

According to the Health Ministry, on Wednesday afternoon approximately 300,000 self-test kids arrived in Cyprus and are expected to be distributed to pharmacies after the shortage noticed in previous days.

A decrease of €722 million or 14.4% was recorded at the end of September 2021 in aggregate Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) compared with the end of June 2021, according to data released Friday by the Central Banks of Cyprus (CBC).