The EURGBP pair is extending its decline to near 0.8465 in early European trading on Thursday. The Euro is edging lower as the softer Eurozone HICP inflation report prompted the expectation of interest rate cuts from the European Central Bank, while market players will closely monitor the UK general elections on Thursday. The upcoming UK … Read more
Following Wednesday’s choppy action in foreign exchange markets, investors are gearing up for key events that could ramp up the volatility. The European Central Bank will announce monetary policy decisions on Thursday and the US economic calendar will feature weekly Initial Jobless Claims and Unit Labor Costs data for the first quarter ahead of Friday’s … Read more
Cyprus has the third highest proportion of new voters for the upcoming MEP elections among member states, with 8.7% of citizens entitled to vote for the first time.
The fact described in the text is that the percentage of children at or below the poverty line in Cyprus reached 18.1 per cent in 2022, equivalent to approximately 31,000 children, according to Eurostat data.
Key data releases include the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) from Eurostat, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, and first-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data from Canada.
Cypriot workers put in longer hours than the European average, with an average of 38.5 hours per week. In the EU, Greece, Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria had the highest working hours, while the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany had the lowest. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing had the highest average working hours in the EU, while household workers had the fewest. In Cyprus, agriculture, forestry, and fishing had the highest working hours, followed by household workers and mining and quarrying. Education, other services, and extraterritorial organizations had the fewest working hours in Cyprus.
Cypriots aged 20-64 worked an average of 38.5 hours per week in their main job in 2023, slightly above the EU average of 36.1 hours.
Artists and arts professionals in Cyprus are demanding the government establish a ‘Status of the Artist’ to improve working conditions, including access to social security, medical care, and retirement benefits. The lack of a defined status has led to financial insecurity and a lack of healthcare for many in the arts sector. The Cypriot government plans to set a professional status for artists as a priority for 2024, following EU developments calling for improved living and working conditions for cultural and creative professionals.
Illegal and undeclared work in Cyprus is a growing trend, particularly in the construction industry, where it is approaching 25%. The Cyprus economy relies on employing people other than Cypriots, but this needs to be done with appropriate regulations. Third country personnel are attracted through illegal procedures in the promise of a job. The construction sector contributes about 15% to the island’s GDP, with optimistic forecasts for 2024. There are currently 40 projects underway in the construction sector worth €862 million.
The Lithuanian Finance Ministry proposed increasing the corporate tax rate by one percentage point, hiking excise duty on fuel, and introducing a tax on some insurance contracts to raise additional funds for defense.