Unemployment in Cyprus decreased to 12.1% in March 2016, the largest decrease in any EU member state on an annual basis (from 16.2%), according to Eurostat.

Revenues from the Cypriot ship management industry in the second half of 2015 amounted to €462 million, marking a marginal decline of €2 million or 0.43%, compared with €464 in the first half of the same year, according to the the latest Central Bank of Cyprus' ship-management survey.

In a recent article I questioned the suggestion that the cost of a united Cyprus property settlement would be €30 billion and promised to explain how I get it down to less than €5bn.

On 9 October 2015, the General Partnerships Law was amended by Law 114(I)/2015. The amending statute introduced for the first time in Cyprus law the concept of a limited liability partnership with share capital (“Cyprus Limited Liability Partnership”) or (“LLP”).

Deposits in the Cypriot banking system in March 2016 reached €45.7 billion recording a net outflow of €95.5 million, figures released recently by the Central Bank of Cyprus show.

Relations between Cyprus and Russia remain of strategic importance, Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades said, addressing the business forum 'Russia and Cyprus: lessons from the crisis and prospects for cooperation' that took place in Moscow.

The Public Debt Management Office at the Ministry of Finance announced that the fifth series of the 6-year retail bonds (May 2016) attracted a total of €17,457,800, far above the monthly target of €10mln.

The privatisation of the Limassol port is a major new step for the government, whose potential positive results remain to be seen in the coming years.

President Nicos Anastasiades said recently that amid rapid changes both in the social and the economic fields, the energy sector in Cyprus is fundamentally changing with regard to its structure, organisation and means of exploitation.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades heads a delegation, taking part in the 9th Summit of the Cyprus-Russian Intergovernmental Committee on Economic Cooperation.