Cyprus Business Now: weekly wrap-up

Here are the top business stories in Cyprus from the week starting September 21: The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned that euro area households are keeping too much of their wealth in cash and low-yield deposits, while Cyprus faces a particular challenge in encouraging households to move towards longer-term investment. In a blog post published this week, the ECB said around one-third of euro area household financial assets, worth almost €10 trillion, remained in cash and low-yield bank deposits. It said around 80 per cent of households did not own stocks or other market-based financial instruments, with participation substantially lower than in the United States. The ECB said the difference was particularly pronounced among wealthier households, with more than 65 per cent of the wealthiest 20 per cent of US households holding listed shares, bonds or mutual funds, compared with less than 45 per cent in the euro area. The Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Keve) will hold a round-table discussion in Nicosia on September 29, 2026, focusing on workers with care responsibilities and the support available to them, including a new scheme subsidising care services. The event will examine how employees can balance their professional responsibilities while caring for an elderly person, someone with a disability or another family member. It will also look at how employers, public authorities and other relevant organisations can better respond to the needs of workers who provide informal care. Cyprus put seafarers’ rights, shipping’s social role and the competitiveness of the European fleet under the same spotlight in Athens, as a three-day maritime programme moved from the people behind the industry to the regulatory pressures shaping its future. Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis used an international symposium marking the 20th anniversary of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) to argue that the protection of seafarers could no longer be treated separately from the wider changes transforming global shipping. The convention, adopted in Geneva on February 23, 2006, brought seafarers’ rights under a single international framework, setting minimum standards for working and living conditions, medical care, social protection, repatriation and other basic employment rights. Cyprus took part in the negotiations that led to its adoption and, in 2012, became the 29th country worldwide and ninth EU member state to ratify it. Reflect Festival and global innovation platform Plug and Play have announced a strategic partnership aimed at connecting Cyprus and the wider region more closely with the global startup, investment and corporate innovation ecosystem. The partnership brings together two organisations seeking to create connections between founders, investors, corporations, governments and people involved in developing new technologies and businesses. Reflect Festival has grown into a major regional meeting point for innovation, bringing more than 10,000 entrepreneurs, investors, executives, policymakers, creators and technology leaders to Limassol and connecting ecosystems across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Through the partnership, Plug and Play will bring its global network, startup expertise, corporate relationships and innovation capabilities closer to the Reflect ecosystem. International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) secretary general Thomas Kazakos has taken the industry’s push for free passage through international waterways to the UN Security Council, warning that commercial ships and seafarers must not become collateral in geopolitical disputes. Kazakos was invited to brief an Arria-Formula meeting in New York convened by Bahrain and chaired by the country’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, with discussions focusing on the worsening maritime security environment and, in particular, the Persian Gulf. Representing the international shipping industry, Kazakos used the meeting to press the case for freedom of navigation, arguing that the established rules governing international waterways cannot be allowed to change according to political circumstances. “The ability of commercial ships to navigate international waterways safely, predictably and without unnecessary impediment, is crucial to international maritime law and to the global trade system. Shipping must not be held to ransom,” he said. Cyprus’ tourism downturn is expected to ease further by the end of the year, with arrivals forecast to finish around 5 per cent below 2025 levels, Tourism Deputy Minister Kostas Koumis said at the weekend. The latest figures from the statistical service (Cystat) show that tourist arrivals reached 2,820,649 between January and August, down 7 per cent from the same period last year, improving from an 8 per cent decline during the first seven months. Speaking during the inauguration of new cycling routes in Troulloi, Aradippou, Koumis said the year had begun on a particularly strong footing, with January and February both setting records for their respective months. “We had the best January and the best February we have ever had,” he said, before pointing to the sharp change that followed in March as disruption in the Middle East hit air travel to and from Cyprus. According to Koumis, around 70 per cent of flight programmes serving Cyprus were cancelled indefinitely overnight, forcing the government and the Tourism Deputy Ministry to deal with what he described as one of the most serious crises the sector had faced in decades. Cyprus has emerged as one of Europe’s clearest examples of homes outgrowing the households inside them, with more than seven in ten people in rural areas living in properties considered larger than they need. The latest Eurostat figures place Cyprus among the EU countries with the highest levels of under-occupied housing in rural areas, alongside Ireland and Belgium. Only the Netherlands recorded a higher rural rate, at 73.3 per cent. Under-occupation, however, does not mean a property is empty. Eurostat uses the term when a household has more rooms than are considered necessary for the number and ages of the people living there. A family home occupied by a couple after their children have moved out, for example, may therefore be classed as under-occupied. That distinction is particularly relevant in Cyprus, where larger homes have long been a feature of the housing market. Across the island, 69.4 per cent of people lived in under-occupied homes in 2025, the highest proportion in the EU and more than twice the bloc average of 33.4 per cent. Ireland followed at 66 per cent and Malta at 63.2 per cent. Cyprus recorded the second-largest annual decline in commercial flights in the EU in August, even as flight activity across the bloc continued to expand and the island’s tourism downturn showed further signs of easing. According to Eurostat, the number of commercial flights in Cyprus fell by 3 per cent in August compared with the same month in 2025, with only Austria recording a larger decline. The figures came as Cyprus continued to record fewer tourist arrivals than in the record year of 2025, although the shortfall has narrowed steadily through the summer. Aegean was named Europe’s Best Regional Airline for the 15th consecutive year at the 2026 Skytrax World Airline Awards in London on Monday, marking the airline’s 16th win in the category during its 27 years of operation. The Greek airline, which operates extensively to and from Cyprus, also retained fourth place in the global ranking for the title of World’s Best Regional Airline. The latest award was presented at the Langham Hotel in London, where Aegean representatives and cabin crew members attended the ceremony and received the distinction. The awards are based exclusively on passenger feedback through what Skytrax describes as the world’s largest airline passenger satisfaction survey. The greatest danger from artificial intelligence may not be a machine turning against humanity, but people gradually losing confidence in their own ability to think without it, Neapolis University Paphos professor Savvas A. Hadjichristofis warned. Hadjichristofis, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation and Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the university, said the deeper threat already had a name. “Uncritical trust in the machine”. The existential danger, he told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), may ultimately not take the form of a machine attacking humanity. Instead, “it may take the form of a society that no longer feels capable of making decisions without the machine”. His warning comes as senior figures in the global AI industry, alongside researchers who have left leading technology companies, raise concerns about the speed at which advanced systems are developing and how they are being controlled. Cypriot manufacturers and software developers are entering the most demanding phase of Europe’s new cybersecurity regime, Research Deputy Minister Nicodemos Damianou said this week, as new obligations begin to take effect and smaller firms face the practical challenge of meeting them. Speaking at the ‘Building CRA Compliance through Horizontal Cybersecurity Standards’ conference in Nicosia, Damianou turned to an unlikely example to explain why Europe’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) reaches well beyond the traditional technology sector: a fish tank. A few years ago, he said, attackers gained access to a casino’s network through a smart thermometer installed in its lobby aquarium, before moving through the system and reaching its high-roller database. “Nobody who bought that thermometer thought they were making a decision that affected cybersecurity,” Damianou said, adding that this was “precisely the point” of the CRA. Twenty years after the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) was adopted, Cyprus has joined a fresh debate over how long seafarers should be expected to work, as fatigue, mental health and recruitment move higher up shipping’s agenda. The argument goes well beyond an anniversary. Under Cyprus’ rules for ships flying its flag, seafarers must receive at least 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period and 77 hours over seven days. Cyprus follows the minimum-rest model permitted under the MLC, rather than imposing the alternative ceiling of 72 working hours a week. In practice, that can leave room for as many as 91 working hours over seven days. A 2026 study in the European Labour Law Journal listed Cyprus among the flag states applying that system, bringing fresh attention to an old maritime question, just how much work at sea is too much? Invest Cyprus presented Cyprus as a stable European base for regional growth during a London briefing on Tuesday, as it sought to make the case for the island as a hub for international business, financial services and wealth management. The investment promotion agency, which partnered with FT Locations for the event, said international companies were increasingly looking beyond cost when choosing where to establish and expand operations, placing greater weight on stability, regulatory credibility, access to talent and connectivity. Opening the discussion, Invest Cyprus chairman Evgenios Evgeniou said this shift played to Cyprus’ strengths. The agency pointed to the country’s position within the EU and eurozone, its common-law legal tradition, international workforce and location between Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia as factors supporting its case as a regional business base. Cloud computing is already part of everyday business in Cyprus, but the next challenge is not simply to use more of it. Companies now need to think more carefully about security, resilience, data control and dependence on providers, according to Cyprus Information Technology Enterprises Association (CITEA) director Matina Zisiadou. “Cloud technology had moved well beyond something businesses could regard as a future development,” Zisiadou said. Email, file storage, workplace applications, accounting systems and databases are already among the services operating through the cloud, often without companies giving much thought to the infrastructure behind them. She pointed to the latest available Eurostat figures for 2025, which show that one in two businesses in Cyprus with 10 or more employees used paid cloud services, putting the island close to the EU average. The European Commission’s Digital Decade 2026 report, she added, also describes Cyprus’ adoption of advanced technologies such as cloud and data analytics as relatively advanced. Cyprus moved a step closer on Tuesday to requiring greater gender balance at the top of listed companies, as MPs began examining legislation under which at least 33 per cent of director positions would have to be held by the underrepresented gender. The bill, now before the House energy, trade, industry and tourism committee, would change not only the make-up of company boards but also how directors are chosen. Selection procedures would have to be based on clear, neutral and objective criteria, with greater emphasis on transparency and merit in senior appointments. Listed companies would also face new reporting requirements. The Office of the commissioner for gender equality would monitor implementation, while companies covered by the law would have to submit an annual report setting out information on their compliance. Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) chairman George Karatzias and vice chairman Loukas Lagoudis signed their contracts with Finance Minister Makis Keravnos on Tuesday, formally confirming their assumption of the two senior positions at the regulator. The appointments officially took effect last week, with Karatzias and Lagoudis meeting Keravnos at his office to sign the contracts formalising their new duties. “I wish Karatzias and Lagoudis every strength in their new duties, and the Finance Ministry remains at their disposal to support their work,” Keravnos said. The ministry said the signing marked the beginning of a new period for CySEC, with its new leadership bringing the knowledge and experience required to guide the regulator. The AI Cyprus Expo will return to Limassol in April of next year, with its organisers aiming to turn the event into a regional platform for applied artificial intelligence and business collaboration across the Eastern Mediterranean. Empactio, the company behind the expo, spoke exclusively to the Cyprus Mail about its plans to expand the event, the development of its technology platform and its ambition to position Limassol as a gateway for applied AI. Empactio was founded by Maxim Monzer and Briken Bufi, neither of whom came from the traditional events industry. Briken’s background is in sales, operations and growth, having spent more than a decade building and training startups, while also being founder and CEO of Sainni AI and Aella Creative Force. Cyprus recorded the largest fall in tourist accommodation nights in the EU during the first half of 2026, down 7.71 per cent year on year, according to a Destination Finder analysis of Eurostat data. Romania followed with a decline of 6.71 per cent, while the EU as a whole recorded 1.321 billion overnight stays, up 1.7 per cent from the same period in 2025. Cyprus remained under pressure in June, when accommodation nights fell 6.78 per cent from a year earlier. Nights spent by non-residents declined 6.04 per cent, while those by residents fell 19.16 per cent. Non-residents accounted for 95.06 per cent of all accommodation nights in Cyprus during the month. The Cyprus Association of Large Investment Projects and Invest Cyprus agreed to step up cooperation on attracting and facilitating foreign direct investment, following talks between the two organisations this week. The meeting centred on possible joint initiatives to bring further investment to Cyprus, with particular emphasis on projects capable of delivering a significant economic and development impact. In that context, the two sides discussed making greater use of their respective expertise and international networks to promote investment opportunities in Cyprus more effectively and strengthen the country’s competitiveness as an international business centre. The association also used the meeting to emphasise the role of large developments in supporting economic growth and employment, as well as improving infrastructure and services. Cyprus and China have put maritime cooperation back at the centre of their bilateral agenda, with Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis and China’s new ambassador Yang Yundong discussing seafarers, maritime education and coordination at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) ahead of her planned visit to China. During a courtesy meeting, Hadjimanolis and Yang reviewed areas of mutual maritime interest, including the longstanding agreement governing shipping relations between the two countries and the scope for closer cooperation in maritime education. The wellbeing of seafarers was also discussed, an area Cyprus has placed increasingly high on its shipping agenda this year alongside training and the future maritime workforce. The relationship has a formal framework stretching back more than three decades. Cyprus and China signed an Agreement on Maritime Transport on August 29, 1990, while a protocol amending the agreement was signed in December 2003 and later entered into force in 2005. Cyprus and Malta are looking to deepen commercial ties and create new opportunities for joint investment, with companies from the two countries meeting to explore cooperation across technology, financial services, manufacturing and cyber security. The Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Keve) hosted the Cyprus–Malta Business Forum and a series of B2B meetings, bringing together a Maltese business delegation and representatives of the Cypriot business community. The forum, organised with The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the Cyprus–Malta Business Association, was held in the presence of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry Kyriacos Iordanou. Keve said the initiative formed part of its wider effort to strengthen Cyprus’ international business links and help Cypriot companies expand into overseas markets. Cyprus continues to command strong investor confidence, with 83 per cent of international investors surveyed by EY rating the island attractive for foreign direct investment, even as energy costs, access to finance and bureaucracy remain significant concerns. The latest EY Cyprus Attractiveness Survey 2026, presented by Stelios Demetriou, EY Cyprus Head of Strategy and Transactions and M&A Leader for Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe & Central Asia, puts the country’s FDI stock at around €82 billion in 2025, with investment still concentrated largely in financial services, real estate and ICT. Of those surveyed, 56 per cent described Cyprus as definitely attractive and a further 27 per cent as fairly attractive. Another 13 per cent were neutral, while only 4 per cent considered it unattractive. The survey was conducted among 80 foreign investors from 23 countries and 11 sectors, with senior executives and investment decision-makers taking part. About 92 per cent of respondents already had business operations in Cyprus. Cyprus’ research and innovation ecosystem has reached the point where it must build scale, attract more private investment and talent, and turn research into greater commercial value, according to Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) director general Theodoros Loukaidis. Speaking to Cyprus News Agency (CNA) as the foundation marks 30 years since its establishment, Loukaidis said Cyprus had come a long way in research and innovation, with more companies, investment and international links now forming part of the country’s economic landscape. “It is no longer something that may perhaps be happening. It is something that is happening in Cyprus,” he said, pointing to what he described as a broader shift in attitudes towards research and innovation. He mentioned that the next challenge is no longer simply to build an ecosystem, but to help it grow up. Sales of locally produced industrial goods in Cyprus rose by 3.7 per cent to €4.77 billion, with halloumi, bakery products and pharmaceuticals among the largest categories, according to statistical service (Cystat) figures released on Thursday. Sales increased by €170.2 million from €4.60bn a year earlier, although growth slowed from the 7.3 per cent recorded in 2023, when the total had risen from €4.29bn, according to earlier Cystat figures. Among the biggest contributors was halloumi, with local industrial units selling 46,100 tonnes worth €364.1m, compared with 41,900 tonnes valued at €338.1m a year earlier. That translates into an increase of around 10 per cent in volume and 7.7 per cent in value, adding €26m to halloumi sales over the year. Rising electricity and fuel costs are putting increasing pressure on household finances and could leave previously reliable borrowers struggling to meet their loan repayments, the Cyprus Borrowers Protection Association (Syprodat) said on Thursday. The association said the squeeze on household budgets was becoming harder to absorb, as higher everyday costs eat into disposable income while monthly obligations continue to rise. “Disposable income is falling, while basic needs and monthly obligations are increasing,” Syprodat said. For thousands of families, low-income pensioners and borrowers, it added, the pressure was becoming particularly acute, with the rising cost of living directly affecting their ability to keep up with loan instalments. Syprodat warned that the problem could increasingly affect households that have so far kept up with their repayments, as electricity, fuel and other essential costs take up a growing share of monthly income. Cyprus is stepping up investment in mountain and rural tourism, Deputy Tourism Minister Kostas Koumis said in Agros on Thursday, as the government seeks to draw more visitors inland, support local communities and strengthen the island’s appeal as a year-round destination. Speaking at the conference “Mountain Areas, Special Interest of Tourism and Community Resilience”, held as part of Mountain Games Cyprus 2026, Koumis described authenticity as “a major asset for the tourism sector”, arguing that the character of rural and mountain communities remains central to their long-term appeal. The four-day Mountain Games programme, organised during the European Week of Sport, includes 35 activities across eight Troodos villages within the UNESCO Global Geopark. Koumis noted that the government and the Deputy Ministry were continuing to invest in mountain and rural areas, while recent studies showed travellers increasingly looking for nature, outdoor activities and experiences that bring them closer to local communities. Greek retail group Jumbo recorded net profit of €120.6 million in the first half of 2026, up 2.92 per cent year-on-year, while sales rose by 4.42 per cent to €519.26 million, as the company kept its full-year outlook unchanged and announced an extraordinary €1 per share cash distribution. In Cyprus, which remains one of the group’s four directly operated markets, Jumbo said the disruption initially caused by the island’s proximity to conflicts in the Middle East had gradually eased, with market conditions normalising over the summer months. The group currently operates six stores in Cyprus, alongside 53 in Greece, 10 in Bulgaria and 20 in Romania, taking its directly operated network to 89 stores. Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to just nine vessels this week, as Cyprus joined dozens of countries in calling for the restoration of free navigation through one of the world’s most important shipping routes. Preliminary Kpler data published on Friday showed that eight vessels left the strait and only one entered, down from 14 crossings a day earlier. The 10-day average stands at 18. Some vessels may have crossed with their Automatic Identification System transponders switched off and would therefore not appear in the figures. Among Thursday’s outbound traffic were a ballast very large gas carrier and a fully laden very large crude carrier, while the remaining vessels included Panamax and Supramax ships and short and medium-range tankers. The only vessel recorded entering the strait was a Handymax dry bulk carrier. Logicom has appointed long-serving executive Anthoulis Papachristoforou as its new chief executive, handing him responsibility for the group’s day-to-day technology operations as Varnavas Irinarchos shifts his focus towards strategy, investments and major projects. The management changes took effect on September 24, following a board decision a day earlier, and form part of a reorganisation of the Cyprus-listed technology group’s senior executive structure. Papachristoforou, who has served as deputy managing director and group chief financial officer, will oversee the daily management of Logicom and its subsidiaries across the technology and IT businesses. He will report to Irinarchos, who steps away from the chief executive role but remains executive vice-chairman. Passenger air transport prices in Cyprus were 5 per cent higher in August than a year earlier, moving against the EU trend as airfares across the bloc fell slightly, according to Eurostat figures released on Friday. Prices for package holidays in Cyprus also rose by 3.7 per cent year on year, compared with an increase of 3.2 per cent across the EU. The increases come as Cyprus is also facing comparatively high inflation. The island’s harmonised inflation rate stood at 5.2 per cent in August 2026, the third highest in the EU, behind Romania and Lithuania. Across the bloc, passenger air transport prices fell by 0.4 per cent year on year, while package holidays became 3.2 per cent more expensive, matching the EU’s overall inflation rate. Greece recorded the sharpest rise in airfares, at 16.3 per cent, followed by Ireland at 14.4 per cent.