Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said recently he was satisfied with the interest shown by oil companies in the third round of licensing for hydrocarbon explorations in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone.

As part of the strategic expansion of its global footprint, Toll Global Forwarding (TGF), has established a presence in Cyprus with a franchise office fully operational as of 1 July 2016.

The government has ordered a study to be carried out to look into ways of importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for power generation but also broadly for industrial purposes.

The Cooperative Central Bank (CCB) has reached its target of reducing loans delayed beyond 90 days below the €6 billion barrier six months ahead of schedule.

Months after Cyprus has exited the MoU, the country is on a positive path towards continuing economic recovery, though risks related to a high NPL ratio and Brexit instability remain.

The Cyprus subsidiary of Greece’s Piraeus Bank was recently sold to Lebanese M Holding Sehnaoui SAL with the new investors to inject fresh capital of €40m.

The Statistical Service of Cyprus announced that it has published the new monthly electronic publication 'Intra-Extra EU Trade Statistics (Summarised Data)' for April 2016.

The unemployment rate of people over 15 dropped to 14.1% in Q1 2016, from 17.6%, in Q1 2015, and rose from 12.7% in October to December, the statistical service said.

President Nicos Anastasiades urged the business community recently to make the most of investment and entrepreneurship opportunities and to take advantage of the government's determination to create a more productive and competitive economy.

The number of registered unemployed fell year on year by 5,611 or 13.7% in June 2016 to reach 35,265 according to the latest data from the Statistical Service, Cystat.