Cyprus’s economy expanded 3.9% in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to the same period the previous year, and a seasonally adjusted 3.9%, the statistical service said.

The unemployment rate in the last three months of 2017 fell to 10.1%, from 12.8% in the fourth quarter of 2016, the statistical service said citing its labour force survey.

Construction output is expected to pick up further as building permits for 2017 show a 47% increase in the construction area of projects that received the go-ahead from local authorities, to 1,542,663 square metres, compared to 2016, the statistical service said.

Israel expects a decision to go ahead with the construction of a 2,000 kilometre pipeline linking vast eastern Mediterranean gas resources to Europe to be made by early 2019, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Reuters.

Cyprus last week paid €312.5m to the Russian Federation as a first instalment of a €2.5bn loan agreed more than six years ago and restructured in 2013, a Finance Ministry source said.

The administrator of the defunct Cyprus Popular Bank has received an offer from a Maltese fund to buy its stake in Malta’s Lombard Bank, a move favoured by the regulator.

Property transactions rose 46% to 666 in February 2018 compared to the respective month of 2017, mainly on strong performance of the real estate market in Paphos, the lands department said.

Revenue from tourism rose in 2017 by 12% to €2.6bn to an all-time high, aided by a 15% increase in arrivals to 3.7m, which was also a new record, the statistical service said.