The government expects to collect over €7.4bn in 2018, or 3.6% more than this year, and spend just below €7.4bn, up 2.9%, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said recently.

The cabinet recently approved a proposal by state-owned Natural Gas Public Company (Defa) to proceed as soon as possible with two tenders for the import of natural gas.

Real estate prices in all categories rose in the fourth quarter of 2016, both annually and quarterly, as demand for residential properties is pushing prices up mainly in coastal areas, the Cyprus division of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said.

Tourist arrivals rose an annual 27% in April 2017 to 286,331, an all-time record for the month, with almost all major markets performing strongly, the statistical service said.

Eurogate Container Terminal Limassol Ltd said that it intends to invest €30m in upgrading infrastructure and services at Limassol Port, including two new crane bridges.

The Cypriot economy expanded 3.4% in the first quarter of the year, compared to the respective three-month period of 2016, and a seasonally adjusted 3.3%, the statistical service said citing a flash estimate.

Bank of Cyprus has agreed to sell a small number of restructured non-performing loans of developers and construction companies to a smaller undisclosed lender, a banking source confirmed recently.

The government generated a fiscal surplus of €200.9m in the first quarter of the year, compared to a surplus of €146.3m a year before, mainly on increased revenue, the statistical service said.

Foreign investors heaped praise on Cyprus during a special session focused on the country at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) annual meeting in Nicosia.

Italy’s Eni, which made the largest gas discovery in the EastMed off the coast of Egypt in 2015, expects that Cyprus will play a key role in developing the region's gas.