Author: Antony Antoniou

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Cypriot could be nominated for Oscar

Cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos could this week become only the second Cypriot ever to be nominated for an Oscar. THEO PANAYIDES talks to his old friend about loving what you do and belonging at sea or on a film set

The empty office behind Haris Zambarloukos on our Zoom call could be anywhere – but in fact it’s Warner Bros Leavesden, just north of London, an old Rolls Royce factory which the Hollywood major took over when they made Harry Potter and converted into a studio. This is where Haris – one of the world’s most successful cinematographers, based in the UK for years now – is about to shoot the sequel to The Meg, the recent Jason Statham blockbuster about a monster shark (the original made over $500 million worldwide), taking an hour off pre-production to chat on his lunch break.

We talk on Friday; they start on Monday, a few months on soundstages in Leavesden followed by three weeks in Thailand. Something else is also slated to occur, a couple of weeks into the shoot: the announcement of the Oscar nominations on February 8 when Belfast, Kenneth Branagh’s memoir of his childhood years in the titular city, is expected to feature prominently. The small, “very heartwarming” film, photographed by Haris, is among the bookies’ favourites (second only to The Power of the Dog) and has already won Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes. It’s entirely possible that the Academy’s wave of love for Belfast will extend to his own black-and-white cinematography, making Haris only the second Cypriot – after Michael Cacoyannis in 1965 – ever to win an Oscar nomination.

That makes me proud, and not just as a Cypriot. I’ve known Haris Zambarloukos for years, almost all my life in fact: we were kids together in Dubai after the invasion, when we were both in our single digits (he turns 52 next month). We’ve drifted apart, admittedly, and I’ve only talked to him a handful of times in the past few years – but I’ve seen his career slowly blossom, from prestigious art school (St. Martin’s in London) to prestigious film school (the AFI Conservatory in LA) to making small films with somewhat obscure directors, to making small films with established directors (including Branagh, with whom he first worked on Sleuth in 2007). Mamma Mia! in 2008 was a notable milestone, his first big-studio picture, then Thor in 2011 was another milestone, his first action blockbuster, tasked with lighting the sets and masterminding the look for a project with a $150 million budget.

How did he get here? After all, the film industry is notoriously fickle. Take First Daughter, for instance, Haris’ first official credit as cinematographer (what’s known as a DP, or Director of Photography). This was a much-acclaimed short film, made in 1997, which screened at 22 festivals and won 13 awards. It was directed by Anne Madden, presumably his classmate at AFI (it was her thesis film) and prodigiously talented in her own right – yet Madden’s directorial career seems to have stalled, with only two further shorts in the years since; she still works in film and TV, but now as a wardrobe stylist and visual researcher. That kind of pivot is not uncommon; the industry has room for many creatives, and only a very few graduate to the top jobs. But how did Haris – an obscure Cypriot from a family of engineers – become one of those few?

“I see them as small, gradual transitions, not big leaps,” he notes carefully, looking back at his list of credits. He’s been plugging away, working steadily for 25 years – and he knew what he wanted, which also helps: “You have to find your place, y’know? Where you really belong. And I think it helped that I [always] knew my place was not as a director… My place would be near the camera, and lighting”. I recall his annual trips to Camerimage (a festival in Poland dedicated to cinematography) as an aspiring DP, where he met more senior colleagues and made himself known. People skills played a part, surely? Of course, he shrugs: “You have to have people skills to work in the film industry”.

His personality appears to be a mix. He’s laid-back and affable – his laugh is distinctive, a deep Eddie Murphy chuckle showing off the gap in his front teeth – but also precise in his answers; he doesn’t babble. “I listen a lot,” he replies when I ask about his working relationship with Branagh (the upcoming Death on the Nile will be their eighth film together). “I’ve always found you achieve more by listening more and talking less – and certainly thinking before you talk.” He’s married to Rachel, a costume designer, and they have three kids, a six-year-old daughter and four-year-old twins – yet there’s also a boldness, an adventurous streak that may well be in his genes. “My dad went off to the UK in the 50s to study and work, he went to Libya in the 60s to build roads. My grandfather went to America in the 20s and built railroads for 15 years, then came back to Cyprus.” His own streak comes out in the work, of course – but also in his relationship with the sea, the (other) great love of his life. More on that later.

I remember him well, back in Dubai – the old Dubai, before the Burj Khalifa and the rest of it, with warrens of souks instead of shopping malls and dusty suburbs petering out into great expanses of desert – living in a housing complex rather optimistically dubbed ‘Garden City’. I recall us playing kids’ games, running around in the covered parking lot, getting in a sword fight with plastic swords. What I don’t recall us ever doing, however – and granted, we were very young – was talking about movies.

“I had zero, zero interest in becoming a filmmaker at the time,” he agrees. “I always wanted to be a painter… I was good at painting and maths. Given my background, they thought that finally there’d be an architect in the family.” It was only later, during his foundation year at St. Martin’s, that something clicked: new students spent the year being exposed to various disciplines – painting, sculpture, theatre, film, design – so they could decide which to pursue, and “the minute I tried film, I was transformed. They showed us two films, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Un Chien Andalou, and it was the first time I had seen anything outside narrative filmmaking”.

Sounds surprising, for an art-school student with an interest in photography – but it’s easy to forget how small the world was in those days. His early childhood had been in Dubai, and “I don’t know when you went, Theo, but we went in ’74”. (For us, it was ’76.) “Well, Dubai television at the time, the only thing they broadcast was the Koran five times a day, and then it would just go to a blank screen! So there was nothing to watch.” Haris and his family would take a dhow across the creek to Dubai side – “one of those little wooden rowing boats that the fishermen had” – and there, in a souk, was a little shop selling Super 8 films and projectors, “and we could buy a 20-minute reel of a film, condensed”. These were either comedy shorts (Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton) or classic films like The King and I but edited down to 20 minutes of highlights; his first experience of cinema. “I’m sure that had a subconscious kind of effect,” he muses. “By age five I could at least lace up a projector.”

It’s a bit bizarre, actually – even beyond my own personal involvement in the story – to be talking to a man who’s about to shoot the next Jason Statham blockbuster, and having it dovetail so oddly with mundane local matters: one minute we’re talking about fitting a bodycam on Daniel Craig (in Enduring Love, in 2004), the next we’re discussing Nicosia bookshops. “So I went – what’s the name of that bookshop, was it the Moufflon or Bridgehouse? – I went to Bridgehouse and there was a camera manual,” he recalls, telling the tale (apropos of lacing up projectors) of how he got a job as a camera assistant on an actual movie, a production called Two Suns in the Sky, in the summer after his foundation year. They asked if he’d ever worked on a 35mm camera; Haris lied and said he knew how to lace one – then ran off to Bridgehouse and memorised a lacing diagram in the aforementioned camera manual, managing to pass the test and land the job. “Samuelson’s Camera Data Manual, which I believe is still in print. I’ve since met Samuelson a few times, and I said ‘I owe you my first job’,” he says, smiling at how things turned out.

It happens a lot in our conversation, that odd collision of Cyprus and Hollywood (or at least Leavesden), careening from Sir Kenneth Branagh to local notables like his old English School art teacher Nicos Kouroushis (“one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever encountered”). Haris may have spent more time away from Cyprus than living here, but it’s “still the place I feel I belong”. He rarely comes for work anymore but visits the island often, both to see family – he and his dad Makis are particularly close – and of course to plunge into the sea, which was also why he barely noticed the transition from the UAE back to Cyprus (they returned in the early 80s). “I definitely lived a kind of aquatic life in Dubai, and continued to have an aquatic life in Cyprus.” He was waterskiing from age 8 and windsurfing from age 11, plus of course fishing; he doesn’t fish anymore, but “I can’t remember not fishing, as a child. I remember fishing, snorkelling and painting as my earliest memories”.

What draws him to the sea?

“I belong there,” he replies, and chuckles deeply. “A bit like on a film set.”

In the end, you might say he’s a meeting – an agglomeration – of three things, three converging forces, three different sides represented by three different interests. The love of maths speaks to the precision in his makeup, as well as the practical, technical side that allows him to handle the logistics on these huge Hollywood blockbusters. (“It’s not an artistic medium,” he reminds me. “It’s also a very technical medium.”) The childhood love of painting, and later photography, is of course the creative side. And the sea (mostly windfoiling and surfing these days) is the wild card, the adventurous streak – though also more, a constant, inexhaustible life lesson, a way of feeling, part of what he calls his “self-health”, maybe even part of how he made it to the top in such a slippery industry.

“It’s how you deal with pressure, and how you deal with situations,” he replies when I ask if he never feels cowed by the responsibility of being a DP on these massive movies. It’s very much like surfing, in that “the whole idea of surfing is to learn how to be playful in the ocean when it gets dangerous, and how to survive. That’s what the ancient Hawaiians did – they said let’s make a game out of near-drowning, let’s make it playful. Let’s harness this energy, let’s not be afraid of it”.

The sea can be dangerous, certainly. Even as a child in Dubai he recalls snorkelling and learning how to dodge the various undersea beasties: “There was a sea-snake season, there was a jellyfish season…” But the sea also teaches you about pressure, like you’ll find on a film set, the sea “clears the eyes” – which is what you need as a DP – and the sea teaches focus and being in the moment, which is what you need as a father of young kids. “When I surf,” explains Haris, “I take my glasses off and I leave my phone on the shore. I can’t see very well without my glasses, so it’s definitely a ‘feeling’ thing rather than a visual thing – and with children too, you just have to leave the phone behind. You’ve got to concentrate, you’ve got to be with them.” Kids too, like those ancient Hawaiians, understand the value of being playful.

I suppose it’s fitting that he’s now on the set of a film about a giant shark – and waiting for those Oscar nominations, of course. As he says, there’s no simple formula to explain how he got here – just as there’s no simple guide for how to negotiate a monster wave, or a treacherous current; you just do it, and gradually get better. “I didn’t jump in the ocean and learn to surf in my 40s, and I certainly didn’t jump on to a film set at this age… Every experience I’ve had has built up to it – and I take things in their stride, that’s all you can do”.

He’s always tried to do what he loves, whichever of the three sides – art, maths or sea – it ended up speaking to. “The world was more small-minded as I was growing up,” he admits, with a nod to our shared experience, “and I was neither stubborn nor forward-thinking. I was just uncomfortable with not being able to fully enjoy any activity I did”. I’m a bit biased, I realise. Still, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

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When is VAT payable when buying Property in Cyprus

VAT was introduced in Cyprus on the purchase of brand new property (since Cyprus’ accession to the EU in May 2004) and on the purchase of the land (from January 2018). The VAT rate is 19% and this is usually additional to the purchase price.

The seller is obliged to collect the VAT from the buyer with every payment the latter makes towards the purchase price and then pay this to the relevant government body which is the VAT Department.

When VAT was imposed on property, the Cypriot government tried to mitigate this additional cost to buyers by:

(a) giving buyers the opportunity to apply and receive a VAT reduction from 19% to 5% on the property to be used as their home (this is generally known as a VAT Reduction Application – more on this below); and

(b) by relieving the buyers who pay VAT from the payment of Land Registry Transfer Fees when they get the title deed of the property registered in their names.

Do I pay VAT on resale properties?

No

Do I pay VAT if I purchase a new property?

Yes

Do I pay VAT if I purchase land?

Usually yes. There are some exceptions in the Law relating to the sale of land and these relate primarily to the circumstances of the seller (e.g. if the seller has sold land before etc) for this reason it is always better to assume that the VAT will be payable. It can be a complicated exercise to ascertain whether or not VAT will be payable on land and we will do this on a case-to-case basis.

What is the VAT reduction application?

As mentioned above, the VAT reduction application can be applied for by individuals in order to reduce the VAT rate from 19% to 5% but only for their home and it is considered as a “government grant” in a way. The reduction applies only for the first 200square metres of the said house, and if the same is larger than 200square metres, part of the purchase price will be paid with 5% VAT and part of it at 19% VAT. The buyer who obtains a VAT reduction should maintain the property for a period of 10 years to be able to keep all the VAT discount which he obtains. The said property can still be sold before the end of the 10year period but an amount will need to be paid back to the VAT authority for the years which remained.  Furthermore, the buyer who obtains the VAT reduction cannot rent the property out as that is not considered to be in line with the underlying principle of the grant.

I am buying a new property for investment purposes; can I proceed with VAT reduction?

If you plan on renting out the property either short term or long term you are not eligible for the VAT reduction.

I am buying a new property in the name of my company; can I proceed with VAT reduction?

No

Is the VAT reduction “one off”?

You can only have one VAT reduction grant at a time. This means that if you sell a property for which you obtained a VAT reduction or if the 10 years have expired from the time you obtained a VAT reduction, then you can re-apply to obtain a new VAT reduction on another property.

Can my spouse and I purchase two separate new properties and apply for two VAT reductions?

You are only allowed one VAT reduction per married couple. You can purchase several new properties but you can only have one VAT reduction permission between you.

When can I apply for the VAT reduction?

The application can be submitted only after you have signed the contract of purchase of the property and provided that the said contract has been lodged at the Land Registry.

What VAT rate do I pay if I make payments to the seller before my VAT reduction application is submitted or even before it is approved?

Usually, you will be required to pay an amount of around 20-30% of the property purchase price at the same time as the signing of the contract of purchase. This amount will be paid to the seller with 19% VAT. Thereafter, and as soon as your VAT reduction is approved you must provide the said approval to the Developer who will, in turn, adjust the original payments you had made to reflect the change in the VAT from 19% to 5%. This means that you may be provided with a credit note for the initial payments made with the higher VAT rate. All following payments should then have 5% VAT.

What happens if my property is larger than 200sq.metres?

The VAT reduction can be obtained for a maximum 200 square metres of covered area. This means that for the 200square metres the VAT rate will be 5% and for the excess the applicable VAT rate will be 19%. Although this may sound complicated, it can be simplified at the time of making the payments so that you will not have to worry each time on what VAT rate to apply.

If I pay VAT on the purchase price of the property, am I completely exempt from payment of Transfer Fees to obtain the title deed?

You should only pay a nominal fee to the land registry for the registration of the title deed of the property in your name provided you can prove that you paid VAT on the purchase price of the same. The Land Registry will require proof (such as the receipts of payments made to the seller) clearly showing the VAT paid. The land registry transfer fees will be nominally provided that the value of the property is accepted by the land registry as that which is on the contract of purchase. Should the property valuation is done by the land registry be higher than the contract purchase price this may result in transfer fees being due only on the difference between the two amounts. More information on the calculation of Land Registry Transfer Fees in our FAQs on Property

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Strong apartment demand fuels property price rise

Property prices in Cyprus rose during the third quarter of 2021, a report by the Central Bank of Cyprus released on Friday revealed.

According to the central bank’s quarterly report on Residential Property Price Indices, the price increase was primarily driven by apartment property sales.

At the end of the third quarter, property prices rose by 0.5 per cent over the second quarter, having risen by 0.3 per cent the quarter before that.

Meanwhile, the year-on-year increase during the third quarter was 1.2 per cent, 0.9 per cent higher than the yearly increase recorded during the second quarter.

House prices exhibited different tendencies when compared to apartments, with the former falling in value in certain areas around Cyprus, both when compared to the previous quarter, as well as the corresponding period from the previous year.

Across all districts, house prices fell by 0.3 per cent year-on-year, while they increased by the same margin quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to values rising in Larnaca and Paphos.

Conversely, apartment prices increased by 1 per cent on a quarterly basis, while they jumped by a massive 4.5 per cent year-on-year. This reaffirms the strong demand for apartments in Cyprus over the past two years.

According to the central bank’s property market analysis, the key reasons for the pronounced preference for apartments include subsidies for new homebuyers, rising rental prices, as well as the increase in the cost of construction materials.

Based on a report by the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), which cites unofficial sources in the property market, demand for properties by foreign investors has also cooled down.

The report adds that foreign investors are now looking at lower value properties when compared to the year before, which is something that has been attributed to the termination of Cyprus’ citizenship by investment programme.

In terms of a district-by-district breakdown, the data by the central bank shows that residential property prices recorded a quarterly increase in Limassol (0.1 per cent), Larnaca (1.7 per cent), Paphos (1.6 per cent) and Famagusta (0.6 per cent). Residential property prices in Nicosia remained stable.

On annual basis, residential property prices rose in Limassol (2.9 per cent), Larnaca (2.9 per cent) and Paphos (1 per cent), while they fell in Nicosia (1.2 per cent) and Famagusta (0.7 per cent).

According to the central bank, rising residential property values are primarily the result of increased domestic demand, with foreign interest stabilising.

Regarding the current demand by foreign buyers, this has been partially driven by the government’s international headquartering initiative, a move which has resulted in a number of foreign technology companies moving to Cyprus.

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Strong demand for apartments raising property prices in Cyprus

Property prices in Cyprus rose during the third quarter of 2021, a report by the Central Bank of Cyprus released on Friday revealed.

According to the central bank’s quarterly report on Residential Property Price Indices, the price increase was primarily driven by apartment property sales.

At the end of the third quarter, property prices rose by 0.5 per cent over the second quarter, having risen by 0.3 per cent the quarter before that.

Meanwhile, the year-on-year increase during the third quarter was 1.2 per cent, 0.9 per cent higher than the yearly increase recorded during the second quarter.

House prices exhibited different tendencies when compared to apartments, with the former falling in value in certain areas around Cyprus, both when compared to the previous quarter, as well as the corresponding period from the previous year.

Across all districts, house prices fell by 0.3 per cent year-on-year, while they increased by the same margin quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to values rising in Larnaca and Paphos.

Conversely, apartment prices increased by 1 per cent on a quarterly basis, while they jumped by a massive 4.5 per cent year-on-year. This reaffirms the strong demand for apartments in Cyprus over the past two years.

According to the central bank’s property market analysis, the key reasons for the pronounced preference for apartments include subsidies for new homebuyers, rising rental prices, as well as the increase in the cost of construction materials.

Based on a report by the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), which cites unofficial sources in the property market, demand for properties by foreign investors has also cooled down.

The report adds that foreign investors are now looking at lower value properties when compared to the year before, which is something that has been attributed to the termination of Cyprus’ citizenship by investment programme.

In terms of a district-by-district breakdown, the data by the central bank shows that residential property prices recorded a quarterly increase in Limassol (0.1 per cent), Larnaca (1.7 per cent), Paphos (1.6 per cent) and Famagusta (0.6 per cent). Residential property prices in Nicosia remained stable.

On annual basis, residential property prices rose in Limassol (2.9 per cent), Larnaca (2.9 per cent) and Paphos (1 per cent), while they fell in Nicosia (1.2 per cent) and Famagusta (0.7 per cent).

According to the central bank, rising residential property values are primarily the result of increased domestic demand, with foreign interest stabilising.

Regarding the current demand by foreign buyers, this has been partially driven by the government’s international headquartering initiative, a move which has resulted in a number of foreign technology companies moving to Cyprus

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Smaller dams set to overflow

Smaller dams are expected to overflow in the coming week while stocks in all the dams are currently at 60.4 per cent of capacity, the water development department said on Friday.

The corresponding figure for the same period last year was 73.2 per cent.

“This is a good year,” chief technical officer Marios Hadjicostis told the Cyprus News Agency, as “we are almost halfway to reaching the goal of 75 per cent by March”.

If the goal is not reached, then quantities allocated to irrigation will be reduced in comparison to last year.

However, he was optimistic that thanks to the unstable weather, this goal could even be surpassed if a new barometric low affects the island.

Hadjicostis said that stocks are lower compared to previous years, but this year’s inflow of 41 million cubic metres (mcm) so far is higher than a total inflow of 36 mcm in the previous hydrological year.

With the exception of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, inflows in recent years have not surpassed 50 mcm. But Hadjicostis said they look like they might this year, with the possibility of “reaching the 10-year average of 95-96 mcm”.

The Xyliatos, Argaka and possibly Pomos dams are expected to overflow in the coming week, while the Lefkara dam is not despite being 90.1 per cent full.

For this to happen, Hadjicostis explained, we would need another round of heavy rains and a new barometric low weather system, which are not likely to be repeated.

At the same time, the water development department regularly pumps water out of the dam to delay its overflowing.

Acording to figures issued by the met office on Thursday, rainfall since October 1, 2021 has come in at 104 per cent of normal for the time of year, while the monthly rainfall until Thursday morning reached 68 per cent of the average for January.

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Why invest in Cyprus

As a business owner, you can make money from any corner of our expansive planet; all you need is an opportunity and the knowledge, willingness and resources to develop it. Luckily, setting up business operations abroad is easier than ever, with the movement of goods, services and people across an ever-shrinking globe contributing heavily to foreign investments.
However, the success of such a venture will depend largely on your choice of location. It should be one that offers a conducive environment for your business to thrive – and investing in Cyprus offers such an opportunity. This small but dynamic island nation offers not just a plethora of investment opportunities, but also a favourable business environment.

Investing in Cyprus

To illustrate this point, here are ten reasons why you should invest in Cyprus:

1. A Strategic Location
Cyprus is geographically located between the three continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, thereby strengthening its position as a major Eastern Mediterranean trading post – as well as a renowned international business and services center. Indeed, this vintage location allows Cyprus to act as a point of exchange between these three continents, offering businesses easier access to new markets.
This positioning also makes the island an active transshipment center that facilitates the shipment of goods into and out of the European Union, effectively qualifying it as a business hub.

2. Beneficial Tax Systems
Cyprus boasts an efficient, transparent and attractive tax structure which fully adheres to EU, OECD, and international regulations; the island’s tax resident companies also benefit from extensive double taxation treaties with over 60 countries worldwide. In particular, Cyprus’ tax regime features the following highlights:
Profits of Cypriot tax resident companies are taxed at a flat rate of 12.5%, which is one of the lowest corporate income tax rates in the EU (only Hungary and Bulgaria are lower).
Foreign sourced dividends are generally exempt from tax when received by Cypriot tax resident companies.
Disposals of shares and other qualifying securities (such as corporate bonds) are exempt from tax, provided the disposed company does not hold any immovable property in Cyprus.
Generally, there are no withholding taxes on payments from the island.
Profits of a foreign Permanent Establishment (PE) are exempt from taxation, under easily met conditions.
Low individual income-tax rates (individuals earning less than €19,500 per annum pay no income tax, while those earning more than €60,000 pay a tax of 35%).
This tax regime favours holding companies, financial institutions, investment funds, IP companies, and value chain transformation companies. In addition, these tax incentives reduce the cost of doing business. For an entrepreneur in Cyprus, this allows for competitive pricing as well as decent profits.

3. Efficient Banking and Professional Services
Cyprus has a large number of highly-educated and skilled certified public accountants and registered advocates ready to offer their services. Their competence is boosted by their multilingualism, too; most speak English, Greek, Turkish, and Russian. Therefore, you can easily get access to high-quality legal, accounting, management consultancy, and financial advisory services. Additionally, Cyprus has a well-organised banking system that takes care of the diverse needs of individuals and companies. Many of these banks offer services including asset management, syndicated loans, retail banking, custodian services, private banking, and investment banking.

4. A Robust Legal and Regulatory Framework
Cyprus has a comprehensive legal structure which traces its origins to English common law practices. This structure is conducive to business because it promotes transparency and efficiency in dealings. It also gives foreign firms a familiar platform within which they can carry out their activities. Cypriot legislation that is relevant to foreign investments include, but is not limited to:
The Business of Credit Institutions Law (1997)
The Investment Services and the Activities of Regulated Markets Law (2017)
International Trust (Amending) Law (2012)
The Cyprus Stock Exchange Law
Cyprus Companies Law (Chapter 113)
The Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering Activities Law
The Insurance and Reinsurance Services and Other Related Issues Law (2016)
The Merchant Shipping Law (2012)

5. Hydrocarbon Opportunities
Cyprus – and, indeed, the EU at large – is highly dependent on energy imports. As an illustration, the EU produces 48% of its energy needs (primarily nuclear energy), and imports the remaining 52% (generally oil and natural gases) from Russia, Algeria and Norway. The island’s substantial oil and gas reserves could change this narrative; according to US Geological Surveys, the level of untapped oil and gas reserves in the region is immense. As a result, the government is on course to construct an energy centre that will boast storage facilities and transit equipment, as well as exploitation mechanisms. Hydrocarbon exploitation will not only solve the country’s energy deficits, but also attract business investment from all over the world, thereby boosting Cyprus’ economy.

6. A Beautiful Working and Living Environment
When compared to other global centres of business, Cyprus has a considerably lower cost of living. Yet, at the same time, it was ranked 27th in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2019 Quality of Life index. Where else in the world would you be able to find such a high quality of life at such a low cost?
The country also boasts low crime rates, and regularly places in the top 30 of rankings of safest countries worldwide. It experiences 300 days of sunshine throughout the year and is a highly desirable place to live while doing business, while the island’s strong inclination to art and culture adds to this enviable lifestyle.

7. Attractive Legislation for Citizenship
Foreign investors in Cyprus are given a unique opportunity to obtain permanent residency or EU/Cypriot citizenship which, in some cases, can be secured within as little as three to four months. Before being granted a residency permit or citizenship, the government carries out rigorous procedural due diligence. The upside of both arrangements is that as an investor, you need not necessarily reside in Cyprus; neither would you become a tax resident.

8. Strong Shipping Credentials
Cyprus is an internationally acclaimed shipping centre, with more than 140 shipping related firms. Indeed, it has one of the largest shipping registries in the EU and is the biggest third-party ship management centre in the bloc.
This diverse and robust maritime sector accounts for more than 7% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and can be attributed to its strategic location on active trade sea routes, as well as having the latest shipping infrastructure and shipping-favourable legislation in place. To this end, shipping companies may opt to pay tonnage tax rather than income tax on profit derived from ship management or chartering activities (under easily met conditions). This tonnage tax system makes Cyprus a desirable destination for such businesses, with other shipping-friendly regulations including:
Favourable ship registration fees and costs
Cyprus’ position as a signatory to maritime conventions on pollution reduction, safety, and security
A lack of nationality restrictions on ship crews
Therefore, a shipping-related investment is one which can potentially offer excellent returns. Besides, Cyprus’ shipping success guarantees an efficient flow of goods, which is important if your business relies on importing and exporting.

9. European Union and Eurozone Membership
Cyprus gained full membership of the EU in May 2004 and officially adopted the use of the Euro as its single currency in 2008. This, in itself, is a vote of confidence that guarantees relative stability and safety for investors. Moreover, businesses in Cyprus have complete access to the EU Single Market, as well as all the associated benefits that come with this.

10. Advanced Infrastructure
As touched upon, Cyprus has invested heavily in telecommunications, shipping and transport infrastructure. It is home to a sophisticated internal road system that enables faster and more efficient movement between towns and cities, while there are two world-class international airports in Larnaca and Paphos which accommodate approximately 10 million visitors to the island each year. These airports also play a pivotal role in linking Cyprus with numerous global destinations, with direct flights to key business destinations all over the globe. The country also has two deep seaports located in Larnaca and Limassol, with Limassol, in particular, proving a popular pause point for international cruise liners. These ports handle significant freight cargo, and utilise advanced logistics solutions that have reduced costs and increased efficiency. Cyprus, too, is considered a telecommunications centre, as it has satellite and submarine fibre-optic cables that connect it to the rest of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It boasts fast internet speeds through several ISPs, including PrimeTel, Cablenet, and state-owned Cyta. Furthermore, an English-based system of education, reliable and affordable health services, a booming tourism industry, as well as macroeconomic stability boosts the island’s credentials as a desirable investment destination. — Having established some of the key benefits of investing in Cyprus, it is advisable that you explore some of the key industries within the country. As a starting point, there are exciting opportunities in the following sectors:

Construction
Insurance brokerage
Web design and web hosting
Auto mechanic services
Transport
Travels and tours
Clearing and forwarding
Real estate
Educational consultancy services

Many established global businesses and market leaders also have a presence on the island (including eToro, ASBIS, and Mindgeek), meaning that you will certainly be in good company.

 

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October tourist spending hits record high

October 2021 was the most profitable October for the tourism sector as income from tourists holidaying on the island hit an all-time high for the month.

According to data by the Cyprus Statistical Service, revenue from tourism in October exceeded those recorded for the same month pre-coronavirus.

It crushed income recorded in 2019, which saw record tourist arrivals.

Revenues from tourism in October was €310.2 mln, up from €77.4 mln in October 2020, recording an increase of 300.8%.

A small increase of 3.6% was recorded compared to tourist spending in October 2019 of €299.4 mln.

Last October, the increase in tourism revenues was largely due to the jump in visitors, as it was the best month for arrivals, surpassing July and August.

Arrivals in October reached 391,638, an increase of 288.6% from 2020.

Compared to October 2019, tourist arrivals were only by 10.3% less.

In the first nine months of 2021, the average amount tourists spent was €804, compared to €685 in January-September 2019, recording an increase of about 17%.

October’s tourism revenues ensured the shortfall was restricted to 46.5% from 2019.

For January – October 2021, revenues from tourism are estimated at €1.35 bln compared to €376.3 mln in 2020, an increase of 260.2%.

Compared to the same 10-months of 2019, there is a 46.5% revenue decrease (€2.5 bln).

In November, arrivals reached 148,973 from 8,952 in 2020 and 169,392 in November 2019.

For the 11 months January – November 2021, tourist arrivals reached 1.84 mln compared to 621,927 in 2020, an increase of 195.9%.

There was a decline of 52.4% compared to January – November 2019 (3,866,447 arrivals).

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Coronavirus Updates

The cabinet on Wednesday took a series of new decisions regarding school and travel measures, and rules concerning visits to nursing homes.

The three changes are that from January 17 to February 16, a ‘test to stay’ policy is being introduced in primary and secondary schools with the aim of keeping schools operational and detecting positive cases in a timely manner, the cabinet said.

Under the rule, close contacts of confirmed cases that have no history of vaccination, instead of being restricted, will undergo a daily rapid test for a period of five days.

This decision concerns only the students, and the rapid test will be carried out by the mobile units of the ministry of health that will visit the schools.

Secondly, from January 13, the ban on visits to nursing homes and closed structure such as institutions will be lifted but only with entry to those who have completed their vaccination programme and that a period of seven months has not elapsed, or that they have a recovery cert not older than 90 days, or those who have had a third shot. The people in the three categories must also present a negative rapid test not older than 24 hours.

The third change relates to travel.

As of Friday from 5am and on, people travelling to Cyprus aged 12 and above will have the option of presenting the authorities on arrival either a PCR test taken no longer than 72 hours before departure or a rapid test taken no longer than 24 hours before departure, regardless of their vaccination history.

Arrivals, who may have been infected before travelling here, must have passed 10 days from the date they tested positive.

Passengers will still need to undergo a PCR test on arrival, regardless of their vaccination history. The cost of the test is €15 at Larnaca airport and €19 at Paphos airport.

In addition to that, all passengers aged 12 and above are required to undergo a rapid test 72 hours after their arrival, with the exception of those who have received the booster shot of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Passengers are reminded that filling in a Cyprus Flight Pass before their trip remains compulsory.

The cabinet decided to keep the other existing measures in place until January 31.

“The rapid deterioration of epidemiological indicators recorded in Cyprus in recent weeks due to the predominance of the Omicron variant leaves us no room for complacency,” a statement with the decisions said.

The ministry said it was constantly on alert and evaluating the scientific data with the team of experts.

“Our guide is the safest operation of society with the aim of protecting and safeguarding the health of all our citizens and especially of our vulnerable groups,” it added.

With a positivity rate of more than 3 per cent and more than 28,000 thousand cases since the last meeting of the Council of Ministers, the ministry said, the hospitals were working tirelessly to respond to the increased number of hospitalisations.

“Following the suggestions of the scientists, at this stage it was deemed necessary to take further protective measures in the schools, in order for the schools to remain in operation and to detect the positive cases of coronavirus in time, without depriving students of their basic right to education,” it concluded.

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Mouflon population estimated to have reached 3,000

Cyprus’ mouflon population is estimated at some 3,000, the agriculture ministry said on Friday as it showcased the protected species as ‘animal of the month’ on its Facebook page and warned that though no longer in immediate danger of extinction, numerous threats remain.

These include illegal hunting, attacks from stray dogs and hunting dogs during the hunting season, transmission of disease from grazing in the same areas as sheep and goats, especially in north Cyprus, and lack of or low-quality water and food, especially in the summer.

As Haris Nicolaou writes on the ministry’s announcement, the mouflon has a nearly 10,500-year presence on the island where it flourished for centuries only to come dangerously close to extinction.

When it first reached the island, the abundance of vegetation, the absence of competitors and diseases and the absence of natural enemies formed an ideal environment. As a result, the mouflon appears to have spread pretty easily through the entire island and there are several references to a thriving population during the Greek-Roman period and during the Middle Ages when it was particularly popular for hunting by the ruling classes.

But the introduction of firearms led to a dramatic fall in its population, especially during Ottoman rule and through to 1939, Nicolaou added. Historical documents dating to 1878 suggest that its population was as low as 20 individuals in Troodos and a couple of flocks in the Paphos forest.

Changes to hunting laws in 1938 and the decision to prohibit all hunting in the Paphos forest in 1939 were to prove a lifesaver, and through concerted efforts to protect the animal through the years the population has grown.

A species of wild sheep that originated from the Asian wild sheep Ovis orientalis, the Cyprus mouflon is believed to have started its movement to the Mediterranean during the Neolithic era.

Excavations of neolithic settlements indicate it was introduced to the island by man around 8500BC either wild or domestic and as a result of the geographic isolation, adapted to the island’s special ecological conditions.

Today most of its population lives in the Paphos forest, while in recent years it has also been increasingly observed in the Troodos forest, mainly on the side bordering with Paphos forest.

The mouflon is described as a social species since it tends to form smaller or larger groups throughout the year.

The mating period usually starts in early October and lasts until late November. Females give birth after gestation of five to five and a half months to one or more rarely two baby mouflons, from early March to late May. Most births are in April.

Newborns can follow their mother into the forest from the first days of their lives, and after a few days can avoid almost any danger that threatens them. Females stay with their mother, usually for their entire lives. Young males stay with their mother for more than a year and it is quite common for someone to see a female together with the youngest of the two last generations.

Their diet varies depending on the seasons. In the summer, due to the intense drought, the mouflon supplements its diet with with bulbous plants, leaves, bushes and fruit. During this period, many are forced to leave the forest in search of food, resulting in damage to agricultural crops surrounding the forest, such as grapes, fruit and seasonal crops.

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Non-performing loans fall by €722m in third quarter

The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) announced on Friday that the total amount of non-performing loans (NPLs) decreased by €722 million at the end of the third quarter of 2021, reflecting a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 14.4 per cent.

Further, total loans decreased from €28.388 billion at the end of the second quarter to €27.902 billion at the end of the third, reflecting a decrease of €486 million or 1.7 per cent.

As a result of the fall in NPLs, the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans has decreased from 17.6 per cent at the end of the second quarter to 15.4 per cent at the end of the third quarter of this year.

Moreover, the coverage ratio reached 45.7 per cent at the end of the third quarter compared to 46.8 per cent at the end of the second quarter.

It is noted that between December 31, 2014, and September 31, 2021, non-performing loans decreased by a whopping €23 billion or 84.3 per cent.

The CBC explained that the downward trend in NPLs in the third quarter of 2021 was attributed to the sale and transfer of loan portfolios to credit-buying companies, to loans that have been successfully restructured and reinstated in the category of loans at the end of their monitoring period, as well as loan repayments, including debt swap agreements with assets (real estate).

In addition, loan write-offs, made either in the context of restructuring and often concerning amounts for which there are precarious provisions in the accounts of banks, or concerning non-contractual or “accounting” write-offs against amounts already included, also contributed to the decrease in NPLs.

The total loan amount restructured by the end of the third quarter of 2021 came up to €3.911 billion, of which € 2.085 billion are still included in the category of NPLs.

Of the total loans to banks by the end of the third quarter, €14.626 billion concern corporate loans, of which €1.762 billion are NPLs.

Regarding household loans, these amounted to €11.130 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2021, of which €2.187 billion are related to non-performing loans.

The CBC noted that when determining NPLs, banks were required to apply the definition used by the European Banking Authority (EBA).

The EBA stipulates that when a non-performing loan is restructured, it is not automatically transferred away from this categorisation, but remains unattended in the category of non-performing loans for an additional period of at least 12 months, even if the borrower follows the newly agreed repayment schedule without any delays.

This means that a part of the restructured loans is still deemed as non-performing even if the borrower adheres to the new repayment schedule.