Economic sentiment in Cyprus is up in December 2016, according to the Economic Research Centre of the University of Cyprus.

The number of immovable property sales contracts deposited at the Land Survey Department (LSD) reached relatively high numbers for 2016, making it the largest increase year on year in the past decade.

The European Commission has welcomed Paphos as one of the EU’s two Cultural Capitals for 2017, sharing the honour with Aarhus, Denmark.

In 2018, legislation which ties life expectancy to the retirement age will take effect, extending the retirement age in Cyprus.

The Finance Ministry’s Public Debt Management Office said that the government sold a total of €100m in 13-week treasury bills at an average yield of 0.02%, which is the lowest ever.

Sapienta Economics projects a real GDP growth rate of 2.6% in 2017, following an estimated growth rate of 2.8% in 2016.

Recent changes to property taxes in Cyprus will benefit both those who have purchased property and those planning to purchase.

Revenue from tourism rose in October 18% to €266m compared to the respective month of 2015, the statistical service said.

An extraordinary shareholders’ general meeting of the Cooperative Central Bank (CCB) approved the lender’s merger with the 18 separate cooperative saving banks (CSBs) it administers,the bank said.

Deposits in the Cyprus banking system registered a net increase of €358 million in November 2016, whereas loans recorded a marginal decline, figures released by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) show.