Day: August 20, 2022

The issue of the relocation of the asphalt plant to Mitsero area, for which the residents strongly oppose, will be discussed in new meetings to take place at the Presidential Palace next Thursday, the head of the press office of the President, Andreas Iosif said.

In a written statement Iosif said that next week the President will have meetings and consultations and will preside over a meeting of the Cabinet. He noted that on the agenda are issues for which the government is determined to find solutions for the public interest.

Next Monday the Cabinet will meet at the presidential retreat in the Troodos mountains in the morning. The meeting will be followed by a working lunch for the members of the Council.

On Thursday two meetings will take place. The first will be attended by the coordination residential committee of the Vasiliko local authorities and the second by the local authorities of the Mitsero area. Ministers and governmental officials will also participate.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Moody’s Investors Service changed the outlook on the Government of Cyprus’ Ba1 ratings to positive from stable and has affirmed the long-term foreign-currency and local-currency issuer and the local-currency senior unsecured ratings at Ba1.

Concurrently, Moody’s has also affirmed the foreign-currency and local-currency senior unsecured medium-term note (MTN) program ratings at (P)Ba1. The local-currency commercial paper and other short-term ratings have been affirmed at Not Prime (NP) and (P)NP respectively.

An announcement on Friday says Moody’s decision to change the outlook on Cyprus to positive, reflects the strong reduction in Cyprus’ public debt ratio this year which Moody’s expects to continue in the coming years, following a reduction of more than ten percentage points of GDP last year.

It is also due the stronger-than-expected economic resilience to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Caa3 negative) and also to the pandemic, coupled with solid medium-term GDP growth prospects, which in turn are supported by the EU’s Next Generation EU package of grants and loans. In the first half of the year, real GDP growth was at 6%, among the strongest performances in the euro area, Moody’s notes.

The rating agency also attributes the decision to ongoing strengthening of the banking sector, with non-performing exposures continuing to decline. It also notes that the banking sector’s exposure to Russia is limited, in stark contrast to the early 2010s.

The affirmation of the Ba1 ratings reflects a combination of comparatively high economic and institutional strength and relatively high exposure to event risks related to the large size of the banking system.

Cyprus’ rating could be upgraded if the sovereign’s fiscal and debt metrics improved broadly in line with Moody’s baseline scenario over the coming 12 months. Continued evidence of strong economic resilience coupled with a high absorption of EU funding and reform implementation of reforms under the National recovery and resilience plan would also support an upgrade, its added.

Further improvements in the banking sector, which would reduce the sovereign’s exposure to banking sector risks, would also be rating positive, Moody’s says.

The positive outlook signals that the rating is unlikely to be downgraded in the near time. However, the outlook would likely be returned to stable if Cyprus’ economic performance turned out materially weaker than expected by Moody’s. A sustained, material deterioration of the government’s fiscal position would also be credit negative, as would a material deterioration of the banking sector’s health.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Costas Kadis travels to Egypt on Monday for an official visit.

He will meet with the Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad and Tarek El-Molla the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

Kadis will be accompanied by Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Andreas Grigoriou.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Finance Ministry welcomed Moody’s announcement on Cyprus’ economy, pointing out that it acknowledges the economy’s resilience and potential to overcome the challenges.

The Ministry issued on Saturday an announcement following Moody’s decision yesterday to change the outlook on the Government of Cyprus’ Ba1 ratings to positive from stable, while affirming the long-term foreign-currency and local-currency issuer and the local-currency senior unsecured ratings at Ba1.

The Ministry in its announcement underlines that the continuous growth of Cyprus’ fiscal situation and the clean-up of the banking sector will lead to future upgrades.

FinMin notes that the upgrade is due to the strong reduction in Cyprus’ public debt ratio this year, the stronger-than-expected economic resilience to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and also to the pandemic, coupled with solid medium-term GDP growth prospects and the decision of ongoing strengthening of the banking sector, with non-performing exposures on decline.

The Ministry also points out that Moody’s have said that an upgrade is possible in a course of 12 months if there is a growth in GDP of 3% in 2022 and 2% in 2023. It adds that Moody’s announcement has a lot of positive elements given the problems created by the geopolitical developments in the region.

Moody’s also point out that continued evidence of strong economic resilience coupled with a high absorption of EU funding and implementation of reforms under the National recovery and resilience plan would also support an upgrade in the future, the Ministry’s announcement says.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus opposes a ban on tourist visas for Russian citizens, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kornelios Korneliou told CNA, regarding a proposal expected to be put forward by Baltic countries during the informal Council of EU Foreign Ministers (Gymnich) in Prague between August 30-31, under the Czech EU Presidency.

“We issue visas even for Turkish citizens because we believe in people-to-people contacts. In addition to this, there is also the Russian-speaking expatriate community in Cyprus and in other EU states, and with such a measure we will prevent the contacts of these Russian citizens with their families and friends. We do not believe that there is merit in such a decision.” Germany, Greece and Cyprus take the same stance, he said, “however, we have to wait for the discussion in Gymnich, where the balances will become clear.”

The idea had been proposed in the past, in the context of the European Council, by a certain Baltic country, and was faced with fierce reactions, Korneliou added. He stressed that during informal councils there is preparation for the decisions that will be taken at a later stage, that is why Prague’s meeting is very important.

He said that other measures against Russia may be discussed “for as long as the war (in Ukraine) continues, there will be reactions and there will be proposals to strengthen the measures taken against Russia. At the moment, some of our partners are discussing the possibility of banning visas for Russian citizens.”

Cyprus FM’s Permanent Secretary noted that free movement of persons applies in the EU and it is “contrary to our own principles to prohibit citizens of the Russian Federation from visiting EU member states.”

Korneliou stressed that EU member states acknowledge that the Cyprus government has backed the bloc’s sanctions against Russia, despite the heavy price on the its economy. On the other hand “we are the ‘usual suspects’ when Russian interests are at stake, because of our history with the Russian Federation and the bilateral relations between Cyprus and Russia” he added.

According to Politico website news, there is a growing number of Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian entrepreneurs, mainly from the IT sector, interested in setting up business in Cyprus. Korneliou said that there is such an interest, not only from Russian but also from American and other companies based in Russia or Belarus, to relocate to Cyprus, due to the prevailing situation.

“We are open to welcome any companies that would like to operate in Cyprus, always in line with EU decisions. Since there is no decision on banning companies from relocating, we would be very happy to see these companies operating in Cyprus ” he said.

He stressed that the operation framework of such companies is very strict and thorough checks are carried out. He explained that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs monitors the implementation of the decisions on sanctions taken by the EU against Russia and when there are relevant questions from various services of the Republic of Cyprus, the Ministry proceeds with carrying out the necessary checks.

Asked, finally, to comment on the restoration of Israel-Turkey diplomatic relations, Korneliou said that they are monitoring developments, and noted that for 10 years the relations of the Republic of Cyprus with Israel have been tested and strengthened daily. “We are a member state of the EU, they can rely on us, we are reliable in this relationship and I believe they have every interest in maintaining it”, he concluded.

Source: Cyprus News Agency