Cyprus: The success story of Europe

Exceeding international expectations with a return to growth in 2015 and one of the highest growth rates in EYU in 2016 Cyprus is making steady progress in restructuring its economy and regaining investor confidence. Hailed a success story by the Eurogroup, Cyprus officially exited the international support programme on March 7th, 2016.

Recovery Headlines

• Based on its revised estimates, the economy is expected to grow by 2.8% and 2.2% in 2016 and 2017, respectively, versus the 1.6% and 2.0% estimates for 2016 and 2017 in IMF’s April 2016 WEO.
• Unemployment is anticipated to reach 13.0% in 2016 versus 14.9% in 2015 and decline further to 11.6% in 2017.
• Tourist arrivals reached 2.2mn during the first 8 months of the year, a +19.2% y-o-y marking a record period for Cyprus.  
• In October 2016, Moody’s marked Cyprus as credit positive due to inflow of deposits amounting to €873m at Cypriot Banking System (raising deposits to the highest point since April 2012).

Corporate Headlines

• Limassol Marina the landmark completed infrastructure project of the island has achieved record sales in 2016, amounting to more than €287m in sales & reservations.
• The final proposal vis-à-vis the only stage left in the process of the licensing procedure for the first Integrated Casino Resort which will be located in Limassol, Cyprus, was submitted on 07th of October 2016 by the consortium comprised of the Melco International Development, Hard Rock International and the Cypriot CNS Group. Note that reportedly, the construction of the ICR is anticipated to begin during the first quarter of 2017 and will involve a total investment of cEUR 0.5bn (or 3% of GDP) and is expected to: (i) boost tourism; (ii) fuel demand for holiday rentals; (iii) generate new job positions; and (iv) increase tax revenues.

More good news: Cyprus Citizenship with investment

On 13th September 2016 the Council of Ministers approved the implementation of an updated procedure and a series of financial criteria for investors aiming to apply and obtain Cyprus citizenship. The new criteria are even more attractive that before with the minimum necessary amount of investment being reduced from 2.500.000 euro to 2.000.000 euro provided the full amount of the investment is done in residential property(ies).