Despite warnings from the government and the banking industry not to, lawmakers on Thursday passed a law further extending a freeze on home foreclosures.

Cyprus has been ‘downgraded’ to the ‘dark red’ zone for coronavirus in the latest update issued by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Thursday, after registering 493.13 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last 14 days.

Cyprus has secured €35 million from the promotion of electric mobility in the European Union fund, Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos said on Friday.

Now under Maltese ownership, Larnaca-based Cyprus Airways announced a third scheduled Moscow flight from 25 July, with bookings available.

Annual house prices in the first quarter of 2021 fell 5.8% in Cyprus, while across the European Union, they rose by an average of 6.1%.

In late June, the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (the “CySEC”) issued its new directive on the prevention and suppression of money laundering activities, which specifically focuses on crypto-asset service providers (the “CASPs”) and their duty to register with the CySEC. According to the directive, the CySEC will maintain a public register which will record, inter alia, the name and legal form of such CASPs, the services they will be allowed to offer and their individual internet domains.

The Cabinet has approved a €6 million budget to compensate people who lost their homes and businesses in the island’s worst wildfire, including families of the four Egyptian workers who perished.

The European Commission has raised its forecast for Cyprus’ economic growth in 2021 to 4.3% from 3.8% in its previous forecast.

As of Friday, a Safepass presentation becomes mandatory in almost all hospitality venues and other gathering places following a government decree aiming to curb the spread of coronavirus in Cyprus.

Building permits issued in Cyprus jumped 46,7% annually in the four months from January – April, reflecting increased economic activity in the construction sector as Covid containment measures were eased.