COVID measures are beginning to ease in Cyprus.  The new measures announced today by the Council of Ministers come into effect on Saturday, October 9.

Paphos Municipality, Cyprus University of Technology (Tepak) and the Cyprus government have finally reached a significant milestone concerning the establishment of a school of tourism and hospitality management in Paphos, after two and a half years of talks.

The House plenum on Thursday gave the nod to an extra €92 million in government spending until the end of the year, over and above the approved budget for fiscal 2021, the lion’s share of which concerns coronavirus-related expenditures.

The rate of inflation in Cyprus remained high in September – registering at 4.1% – though lower than the 5% of the previous month, according to the Statistical Service.

The 2022 state budget will feature a significant fiscal correction, after two years of high deficits, said finance minister Constantinos Petrides, while handing it to the President of the House of Representatives, Annita Demetriou.

The Cypriot Cyber Security team ranked sixth in the European Cyber Security Challenge (ECSC) that took place in Prague from 28 September until 1 October 2021. The result is seen as very encouraging for the national team since it is only the fourth participation of Cyprus in the organization.

Holders of a Cypriot passport can travel to 176 destinations without a visa, according to the latest Henley Passport Index where the document ranked 15th out of 198 passports, dropping two spots since the second quarter of 2021.

Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou said on Wednesday a minimum salary was expected to be adopted by the end of the year following the conclusion of talks between social partners.

The finance ministry is trying to secure an extension of the period in which banks can provide businesses and the self-employed with state-guaranteed loans, as it expires at the end of this year.

Lending criteria to both businesses and households remained unchanged in the second quarter of 2021, but it is expected that they will become stricter in the third quarter of the year, according to the results of the Bank Lending Survey (BLS) for July 2021, published Tuesday by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC).