In an effort to boost the finances of the Social Insurance Fund and ensure its survival now in jeopardy, the Labour Ministry is working on a number of options that will be the subject of discussions with the social partners that among others includes raising the retirement age to 63. Labour Minister Antonis Vasiliou said
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Minister of Finance Michalis Sarris has said that all financial data indicate that Cyprus will fulfill the Maastricht criteria for accession in the Eurozone on January 1st 2008. According to Sarris, the Cypriot economy’s course is described as very positive as regards the macroeconomic stability, the fiscal policy, the rapid development rates and the continuing
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The Board of Directors of Hellenic Bank Pcl (HB) declared an interim dividend of 2 Cyprus pound cent or 3.46 euro cents per share, its first such move during the last three years and another confirmation of its spectacular turnaround that started from last year. Hellenic fixed November 22 as the last day when the
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Alliance International Reinsurance Pcl (ALL) reported a sharp jump in 9M 2006 profit to EUR 1.44 mln from EUR 47k a year ago in the same period. Gross premiums written for the period 1 January to 30 September 2006 amounted to CYP 18.502.838 against CYP 16.133.481 for the corresponding period of 2005. Gross premiums written
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The Board of Directors of Alliance International Reinsurance Pcl (ALL) decided the distribution of an interim dividend for the year 2006 at 7% on the nominal value of each share which is equal to CYP 0,007 or € 0,012 per share for a yield of 2.8%. The share will be trading cum-dividend up to and
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The European Commission adopted a Communication setting out its agenda for revising the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) in the light of experience gained since it began operating in January 2005. The Commission wants to promote the environmental impact of emission trading by expanding it to new sectors and gases and further its global
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The European Commission fixed definitive charges on five Member States or failing to prevent the build-up of surplus stocks of sugar prior to their accession in May 2004. The five countries – Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Slovakia and Malta – will have to pay charges totalling around €57 million over the next four years. As is
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Non-owners predominate as active farmers  The average agricultural holding in Cyprus is 35 decares in size, according to the results of the Census of Agriculture conducted between October 2003 and March 2004, while owner-farmers account for just 687,423 of utilised land. Tenant, shared and other modes of tenure account for 876,375. The main findings
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The European Commission will negotiate Community visa facilitation and readmission agreements with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. “This step reflects the commitment by the EU to promoting people-to-people contacts between the Western Balkans and the Union. It is really good news for the citizens in the region
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Nokia and Finnish telecom operator Elisa have carried out the world’s first WCDMA/HSDPA data call on the 900 MHz band in a commercial network. The call was conducted in Elisa’s live network in Finland, and the equipment included the Nokia Flexi WCDMA Base Station with a special solution for sharing the site infrastructure of the
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