The government bought back in December 2016 outstanding government development stock maturing in July 2019 worth €300m held by a domestic investor, a Finance Ministry source said.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades and Enzo Quattrociocche, secretary general of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), have signed a memorandum of understanding setting out Cyprus’ responsibilities in organising the bank’s annual general meeting (AGM) in May 2017.

French oil major Total has alerted the government that its planned drilling for hydrocarbons in Cyprus’ economic waters will be pushed back to the summer 2017.

Holiday makers from home and abroad spent 14.8 million nights in hotels and other establishments during 2016, an increase of 10.9% over 2015 numbers, Eurostat announced recently.

Cyprus’ government debt rose in September 2016 to €19.7bn or 110.6% of economic output, which is the fourth highest ratio in the European Union, Eurostat said.

House prices, as measured by the House Price Index, rose by 3.4% in the euro area, by 4.3% in the EU and dropped by -3.3% in Cyprus, during the third quarter of 2016 compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

In spite of the increased numbers of tourists in 2016 who visited Cyprus, the five main markets that supplied the largest number of tourists remained the same.

While vice-chairman of Bank of Cyprus (BoC) Wilbur Ross is expected to quit his position to become US Commerce Secretary, the company WL Ross & Co will continue to be invested in the bank, which is set to list on the London Stock Exchange.

Euro area annual inflation was 1.1% in December 2016, up from 0.6% in November and 0.1% in Cyprus, up from -0.8% in November according to Eurostat.

The Bank of Cyprus (BoC) share price briefly leapt to €4.45 in London trading as it made its debut on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).