President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades assured Thursday that Government will continue to work with the same determination and responsibility to consolidate sustainable development of the economy and to boost the excellent prospects of Cyprus’ main productive sectors, in his speech at an official dinner of Cyprus Employers and Industrial Federation.

He also said that upgrading of research and innovation issues under a Deputy Ministry, would significantly contribute to the necessary modernization of the sector.

The President of the Republic expressed the need to improve governance in the field of research and innovation and reminded that the Cabinet decided to establish the National Council for Research and Innovation and to adopt the institution of the Chief Scientist, with the aim to encourage innovative entrepreneurship.
 
In addition, President Anastasiades announced that within two weeks he intended to invite his fellow candidates in the last presidential elections to cooperate in order to achieve a series of reforms, taking into account the proposals that they had submitted.

As he said, 26 of the proposals in the programs of his fellow candidates were feasible, as well as 56 others that were common between all candidates.

Referring to the reforms that the government was planning the President said that they would lead to the enhancement of the competitiveness of Cypriot businesses and would create an even more attractive environment for domestic and foreign investment.
 
Among the reforms mentioned by the President are the establishment of an e-Justice system, the implementation of National Health System from 1 June 2019, the promotion of reforms in the Public Service related to recruitment, evaluation and staff development, the promotion of eGovernment, the reform of Local Government, and the implementation of a Tourism Strategy.
 
Referring to the banking sector, the President said that the Government, in full compliance with strict supervisory, transparency and compliance rules, had
achieved a significant consolidation of the sector and a healthier basis for capitalization, liquidity, profitability, loan approvals and restructurings. He also stressed the reduction in non-performing loans (NPLs) from € 28.4 billion to less than € 12 billion.
 
The President also said that he was expected a more rapid response to the problem of NPLs, after the recent expansion of the Insolvency Framework, the improvement of the effectiveness of the legislative framework and the promotion of the “Estia” Scheme, to protect the main residence.
 
He also said that the establishment of the Asset Management Company, to manage the NPLs and other assets of the Cyprus Co-operative Bank, was a new important source of public revenues arises that would makes public debt absolutely viable.

Source: Stockwatch

President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades assured Thursday that Government will continue to work with the same determination and responsibility to consolidate sustainable development of the economy and to boost the excellent prospects of Cyprus’ main productive sectors, in his speech at an official dinner of Cyprus Employers and Industrial Federation.

He also said that upgrading of research and innovation issues under a Deputy Ministry, would significantly contribute to the necessary modernization of the sector.

The President of the Republic expressed the need to improve governance in the field of research and innovation and reminded that the Cabinet decided to establish the National Council for Research and Innovation and to adopt the institution of the Chief Scientist, with the aim to encourage innovative entrepreneurship.
 
In addition, President Anastasiades announced that within two weeks he intended to invite his fellow candidates in the last presidential elections to cooperate in order to achieve a series of reforms, taking into account the proposals that they had submitted.

As he said, 26 of the proposals in the programs of his fellow candidates were feasible, as well as 56 others that were common between all candidates.

Referring to the reforms that the government was planning the President said that they would lead to the enhancement of the competitiveness of Cypriot businesses and would create an even more attractive environment for domestic and foreign investment.
 
Among the reforms mentioned by the President are the establishment of an e-Justice system, the implementation of National Health System from 1 June 2019, the promotion of reforms in the Public Service related to recruitment, evaluation and staff development, the promotion of eGovernment, the reform of Local Government, and the implementation of a Tourism Strategy.
 
Referring to the banking sector, the President said that the Government, in full compliance with strict supervisory, transparency and compliance rules, had
achieved a significant consolidation of the sector and a healthier basis for capitalization, liquidity, profitability, loan approvals and restructurings. He also stressed the reduction in non-performing loans (NPLs) from € 28.4 billion to less than € 12 billion.
 
The President also said that he was expected a more rapid response to the problem of NPLs, after the recent expansion of the Insolvency Framework, the improvement of the effectiveness of the legislative framework and the promotion of the “Estia” Scheme, to protect the main residence.
 
He also said that the establishment of the Asset Management Company, to manage the NPLs and other assets of the Cyprus Co-operative Bank, was a new important source of public revenues arises that would makes public debt absolutely viable.

Source: Stockwatch

NASA`s Chief scientist James Green will be in Cyprus next week to take part in an International Space Summit organised by the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO). 

On the occassion of his visit, a series of activities will take place organized by the US Embassy in Nicosia such as a lecture at the University of Cyprus and visits to schools.

CSEO President George Danos said that it is an honour for Cyprus to welcome NASA`s chief scientist for the International Space Summit, organized by CSEO as part of its continuous efforts to place Cyprus on the space map.

`In cooperation with the US Embassy the opportunity wll be given to the wider public to see and hear close up this leading scientist`, 

The International Space Summit will take place on October 15-19. During their meetings in Cyprus, they will discuss and decide the future of Mars space missions as well as international cooperation. The summit will be attended by top-level scientists, such as the Chief Scientist of NASA James Green, the Director of Space Research Institute of Russia, the Minister of State of Advanced Sciences of the UAE, and other top officials and scientists from Europe, India and China.

The NASA official will also attend the local NASA Space Apps Challenge that will take place in Nicosia 20-21 October,
mentoring the teams during the competition. CNA acts as an official media sponsor of the competition.

Source: Stockwatch

Cyprus is high on a list of EU countries red-flagged in a damning international report on Wednesday suggesting its golden visa programme in spite of recent ‘cosmetic’ controls, as it stands, remains at risk of “exposing the EU to the corrupt and the criminal”.

The joint report by Global Witness and Transparency International said that programmes run by some European Union countries to sell passports and residency permits to wealthy foreign citizens pose risks of money laundering as some of the schemes are not properly managed.

Such schemes are currently applied in 13 EU countries: Austria, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Greece, Latvia, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Britain, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and France. Hungary has terminated its programme.

According to the report, titled ‘European Getaway – Inside the Murky World of Golden Visas’. Cyprus’ citizenship-by-investment marketing says the island offers “the quickest, most assured route to citizenship of a European country”.

“The statistics seem to support this,” the damning report said. “Cyprus’ passports-for-sale scheme is the most prolific of its kind in Europe, with 3,300 foreign nationals having secured EU passports since 2013.”

It added that prior to the programme’s revamping in 2013, ministers granted Cypriot citizenship on a discretionary basis, in a less formal arrangement. Cyprus has earned a whopping €4.8 billion from its scheme. Cyprus, with a cost for a passport of up to €2m has the potential to attract €1.4 billion annually, which represents about 7.5 per cent of the country’s current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) levels, according to the report.

Analysis of the schemes offered in Cyprus, Malta and Portugal, it added, shows the ways in which “insufficient due diligence, wide discretionary powers and conflicts of interest” could open Europe’s door to the corrupt.

“Specifically, we found that Cyprus and Portugal, in spite of recent reviews and changes in their programmes, do not seem to take into account an applicant’s source of funds or wealth when analysing applications,” said the report.

It said the Cyprus government had acknowledging the existence of “problematic cases” and unveiled a set of reforms in August this year.

The reforms doubled the length of time for assessing applications and introduced an annual cap of 700 on the number of passports for sale. Also, private sector agents are now accredited by and answerable to the Supervision and Control Committee.

These agents are named on a public register and obliged to abide by a code of conduct that requires them to submit a “report of the findings of due diligence review” for every individual they support for citizenship.

“Indeed, so concerned was the government about protecting its reputation, that it created a new code of conduct banning agents from referencing the “sale of passports” or from using the EU symbol or pictures of passports in their marketing material,” the report said.

However according to the two international groups, there is continued cause for concern, particularly as some of the reforms seem to be more cosmetic than substantive.

For example, it remains unclear whether the cap on applications applies only to main applicants or includes dependents. “If the former, the cap of 700 applicants is somewhat disingenuous, for the number of main applicants since the scheme’s establishment has never been higher than 503 a year, a number that is far below the new cap”.

The report also says it remains to be seen if the Supervision and Control Committee will be given the independence, resources and mandate to rigorously apply the code of conduct and to pursue violations. Moreover, while agents appear to be under greater scrutiny, it remains unknown if applicants themselves have been subject to enhanced due diligence, it added.

In May 2018, it was reported that the government would be bringing in agencies that specialise in identifying money laundering to review applications. As of August 2018, however, there has been no confirmation that the government will conduct its own independent and in-depth due diligence checks or take any steps to verify the source and legitimacy of an applicant’s wealth. “This leaves open a critical gap,” the report said.

“Despite their shortcomings, these new changes represent the long overdue recognition that the scheme may have exposed Cyprus and the EU to risky individuals. To prove that their reforms are not mere cosmetics, the Cypriot government must ensure that applicants are subject to enhanced due diligence as a matter of course.”

The two groups said the government must not rely on banks or agents alone to conduct this critical work and that Cypriots, and other EU citizens, deserved to know whether individuals who were successfully naturalised through the scheme prior to August 1, 2018 pose risks to the EU. They call on Cyprus to review past cases and revoke such citizenships if warranted.

It was revealed last year that recipients of Cypriot golden visas included, according to Wednesday’s report,  “a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the super-rich of Russia, Ukraine, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Amongst them were the Ukrainians Gennady Bogolyubov and his former business partner Igor Kolomoisky, who together founded PrivatBank and were its largest shareholders until its nationalisation by the Ukrainian government in 2016.

“The fact that this oligarch duo successfully secured Cypriot citizenship broaches the question of whether there had been any red flags in 2010, and if so, whether the government’s risk appetite was such that it had been willing to overlook them,” the report said

“Now that the pair find themselves in court, the next question is whether Cyprus will consider revoking their status, should they be found at fault.”

Oleg Deripaska was also mentioned. The Russian oligarch was granted Cypriot citizenship in 2017, even though his application had allegedly raised questions, at least in the early stages.

According to the report, Deripaska was asked to resubmit his application due to the results of a preliminary inquiry into his affairs in Belgium. The inquiry was dropped in 2016, and his application for a Cypriot naturalisation succeeded.

“The fact that American authorities revoked Deripaska’s US business visa in 2007 on the grounds of alleged ties to organised crime in Russia did not seem to have weighed in on the [Cypriot] Council of Ministers’ decision. But will they change their minds now that Deripaska has been sanctioned by the US Treasury?”

“If you have a lot of money that you acquired through dubious means, securing a new place to call home far away from the place you stole from isn’t just appealing, it’s sensible,” Naomi Hirst of rights group Global Witness told Reuters on Wednesday after the report was issued.

She urged the European Union to set standards for managing the schemes and to extend anti-money laundering rules, applied so far to banks or gaming firms, to all those involved in the visa-for-sale industry. The European Commission is expected to publish a report on schemes in EU countries by

According to Reuters, EU states generated around €25 billion in foreign direct investment in a decade from selling at least 6,000 passports and nearly 100,000 residency permits, the report said using what it called conservative estimates.

“Poorly managed schemes allow corrupt individuals to work and travel unhindered throughout the EU and undermine our collective security,” Laure Brillaud, anti-money laundering expert at Transparency International, told the news agency.

Source: CyprusMail

The cabinet has approved a guide for the creation of small desalination units by private individuals to help meet the needs of large water consumers such as farmers, hotels and golf courses, Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis said on Tuesday.

It also agreed to set up a committee consisting of officials of competent ministries which will assess applications.

These desalinations units could help meet water needs of groups of farmers, hotels, golf courses, water parks and other businesses affected by the drought.

Kadis said the guide provides for a “flexible and swift procedure” so that the completion of the entire process does not exceed one month.

There has been interest already, Kadis said, expressing hope that that “by improving the water balance, we will improve our ability to address the problem.”

He added that it is this expressed interest by the private sector that prompted the government to introduce a procedure providing the possibility for the creation of small desalination units.

“We want to grant permits to everyone who expresses interest so that the operation of these units starts before the next summer season.”

The minister said that a large delegation, including him, technocrats from his ministry, business people and representatives of farmer associations will head to Israel next week to discuss policy matters on water management and learn about new technologies concerning both saving water and cutting-edge desalination units.

“It is with these technologies we want to make Cyprus’ system as effective as possible,” Kadis said.

The guide provides for the creation of desalination units with capacity up to 1,500 cubic metres (1.5m litres) daily, Kadis said. It also specifies in which areas they can be installed as well as the quality of fresh water they must produce for irrigation purposes and for use in waterparks.

Since 2008, four desalination plants have been built in the government-controlled areas which can produce a total of 220,000 cubic metres of water daily, covering the supply needs of Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca and Famagusta.

According to information from the Water Development Department, the construction of a desalination unit in Paphos is on the cards and is expected to be operational by the end of 2019. The unit’s capacity will be 15,000 cubic metres per day.
The existing units have been constructed on Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) contracts.

Source: CyprusMail

 Cypriot households and businesses continue to be highly indebted despite the decline in debt levels, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Central Bank of Cyprus.

According to the report, the debt of the non-financial private sector reached 226.6%  of GDP at the end of March 2018, down from 240.3% in the previous quarter.

Debt ratios of households and non-financial corporations show a gradual decrease to 104.7% and 121.9% of GDP respectively at the end of March 2018, compared to 109.4% and 130.9% of GDP respectively, at the end of December 2017.

The net worth of households declined to 108.7% of GDP in the first quarter of 2018 compared to 109.8% in the fourth quarter of 2017. This ratio is still below the corresponding average the euro area (148.5%) in March 2018.

The net worth of non-financial corporations to GDP is negative and decreased to 107.5% at the end of March 2018 from the level of 114.4% at the end of December 2017.

Source: Stockwatch

Senior Vice Chairman of ExxonMobil Neil Chapman reiterated Friday its company’s engagement in offshore block 10 of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and he did not rule out a future interest in neighbouring block 7.

 After a meeting with Cypriot President Nicos Anastastasiades at the Presidential Palace, Chapman told reporters that he was pleased to be there. “We took the opportunity to thank the President for his faith in us in exploring block 10”.

As he said, they discussed their plans for the drilling and the exploration wells, and informed the President that they were planning to drill sometime in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Asked if ExxonMobil would be bidding for Cyprus’ offshore block 7, he said that the company was looking at all prospects around the world and was judging them on their merits.

Cyprus Government decided Wednesday to invite energy companies having licences in neighbouring Cyprus’ offshore blocks to express interest for block 7, within a month.

 “It doesn’t matter whether it’ s block 7 or any other, we will look at them,” Chapman said, adding however, that ExxonMobil has not examined any detail with regard to block 7.  

Invited to comment on speculations that ExxonMobil will cooperate with French Total in block 7, he said that it was “way too premature” to tell.

“Obviously we have business with Total around the world, we have business with many other companies around the world”, he said, adding however that “our focus now is exclusively on block 10 exploration with our partner Qatar Petroleum.”

Invited to comment on statements and threats by Turkish officials about the Cyprus EEZ and exploration activities,  Chapman said that “we are a commercial entity and our business is about producing and developing natural resources on behalf of governments”.

“Any government issues, that’s for governments to discuss and resolve. That’s not ExxonMobil’s business”, he added.

Commenting on the regions prospects as an alternative energy route for the European Union, Chapman said that the world needed hydrocarbons from many locations and that what was really important for developing hydrocarbons was the resource, whether it’s large, commercial enough and competitive enough in the global market.

He added that with regard to block 10 it was too early to say, pointing out that timelines in the business were really important.

“I say to our exploration teams all time, we are optimists but is not an exact science. Once you discover hydrocarbons it has to be sufficient quantity to be commercially competitive and then the timeline for development is a long time”, he added. He pointed out that should there be sufficient hydrocarbon in block 10 “you then have to appraise it to understand if it is commercially viable and then the time to get commercial quantities into the market could take years, it could be seven years.”

Speaking after the meeting, Cypriot Minister of Energy Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said that the subject of the discussion was, among others, how the company sees the developments in the hydrocarbon sector at international level and the prospects in the coming years for both Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, as an alternative source of gas supply and transit for the EU.

"It was a very good meeting, where Mr. Chapman informed us extensively about how the preparations for the upcoming drilling are proceeding," concluded Lakkotrypis.

The meeting with the President was also attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Christodoulides, Minister of Energy Yiorgos Lakkotrypis and Government Spokesman Prodromos Prodromou.

Source: Stockwatch

NEWS

Google announced it is pulling cryptocurrency mining extensions from its Chrome Web Store April 2 after “90%” failed to comply with its rules.

In a blog post, extensions platform product manager James Wagner said that the move was in response to analysis of malicious “cryptojacking” present in extensions.

The term refers to when users downloading an extension of any sort unwittingly start mining cryptocurrency without their consent.

“Over the past few months, there has been a rise in malicious extensions that appear to provide useful functionality on the surface, while embedding hidden cryptocurrency mining scripts that run in the background,” Wagner claims.

While formerly allowing cryptocurrency mining extensions that mined as their sole purpose, Google will now ban new candidates from entering the Web Store and remove existing ones by June.

Only one in ten extensions involved in mining adhere to Chromium’s policies on disclosure, according to Wagner.

“Unfortunately, approximately 90% of all extensions with mining scripts that developers have attempted to upload to Chrome Web Store have failed to comply with these policies, and have been either rejected or removed from the store,” he adds.

June also marks the start of Google’s other, more controversial cryptocurrency-related ban, that referring to cryptocurrency advertisements, which will disappear from Google Adwords.

Source:Cointelegraph

The House Pricing Index (HPI) went up by 1.2% during the second quarter of 2018, compared to the corresponding index of the previous year, the Statistical Service announced on Friday.
 
According to preliminary estimate of the Statistical Service, the HPI for the second quarter of 2018 amounts to 103,98 units. Compared to the first quarter of 2018, the index increased by 0,6%.

Source: Stockwatch

GLOBAL natural gas demand will not carry on rising but will peak. Is this considered unthinkable? Then think again!

Most recently published oil company Energy Outlooks talk about the possibility of peak oil but foresee gas demand continuing to grow in the period to 2050. A few, though, such as DNV-GL and IRENA, forecast that natural gas demand will peak earlier. The continuously falling costs of renewables and advances in electricity storage technology, including batteries, pose increasing challenges. Renewables are on the way to become cheaper than building new coal and gas-fired power plants, even without subsidies.

Cyprus should heed this and open up the sector, and specifically solar power, to the benefit of substantially lower electricity prices and reduced emissions in line with EU requirements.

Energy transition

In its Energy Transition Outlook, released in September, DNV-GL forecasts that global primary gas demand will peak by 2034, as direct use of gas loses out to electricity. It forecasts that renewables will be taking an ever-increasing share of the electricity market, with gas demand falling back down to today’s levels by 2050.

DNV-GL, though, warns that this requires the gas industry to remain cost-efficient if it is to stay competitive for the longer term. That will then ensure that gas decline, after it peaks by 2034, is slow and that it can still have a strong role alongside renewables in decarbonizing the world energy system. Expensive gas will hasten renewables penetration and could lead to faster decline. Increasingly, all fuels in the global energy mix will be competing on cost.

DNV-GL also forecasts that “Driven by pervasive electrification, especially of transport, and by ongoing efficiency gains in other sectors, linked in many instances to digitalization,” advances in energy efficiency will lead to “peaking of energy demand worldwide in the 2030s.” It concludes that a rapid energy transition will lead to “a very strong growth of solar and wind, initial growth in gas, and a decline in coal, oil and, eventually, gas, in that order,” but even then the world “would still exceed the 2degC carbon budget.”

Based on the deployment of low-carbon technologies to achieve the Paris 2degC goal, IRENA forecasts that fossil fuel use for energy would fall to one-third of today’s levels by 2050. Oil and coal would decline most, 70% and 85% respectively. Natural gas use would peak around 2027 and then decline by 30% from present levels.

Even BP, in its Energy Outlook 2018, foresees a scenario under which gas demand peaks in the 2020s and declines below current levels. This could happen if the world were to enter an ‘even faster transition’, needed to reduce carbon emissions from energy-use broadly consistent with the Paris climate goals. According to BP, this could be brought about by a sharp increase in carbon prices and implementation of climate polices to encourage greater energy efficiency and fuel switching.

Shell also recognizes the unstoppable rise of renewables. Its CEO, Ben van Beurden, said that the energy transition is “fundamentally a force that cannot be stopped…It is both policy and public sentiment, but also technology that is driving it.” In its Sky-scenario, Shell expects natural gas demand to peak by 2030 and start declining in the 2040s to low levels beyond 2070.

It would appear that even though the oil majors in their ‘base case’ scenarios expect natural gas demand to carry on increasing at least to 2050, they are hedging their bets. They are also considering scenaria that show possible conditions under which future natural gas demand may peak well before 2050.

Clearly the concept of ‘peak natural gas demand’ is not unthinkable and as such it should be taken seriously.

As most major international oil companies are in the process of shifting future production to natural gas, often seen as a bridge between a fossil fuel past and a carbon-free future, this is an important issue.

With the inexorable advance of renewables, the world has entered an era of abundant energy. This is leading to low energy prices, a more competitive and cleaner energy market environment and increasing pressure on fossil fuels if they are to hold-on to their dominance.

Increasingly cheaper renewables, combined with coal resilience because of low prices, are putting the future outlook for gas in doubt. BNEF’s CEO, Seb Henbest, warned that “Wind and solar are just getting too cheap, too fast” for gas to play a transitional role. High oil and gas prices, climate policies and increasing use of carbon pricing are other factors that may accelerate fuel mix switch, threatening the view that gas can be a bridge fuel.

Impact of climate policies

BP, in its Energy Outlook 2018, says the prospects for gas demand could be adversely affected, with both weaker or stronger environmental policies posing potential threats. Weaker policies could dampen the shift away from coal towards natural gas, while stronger policies could encourage greater gains in renewables and energy efficiency.

Such policy risks might cause the gas share of primary energy consumption to plateau by mid-2020s to 2030s and then fall, “squeezed out by non-fossil fuels.”

In introducing the Energy Transition 2018 report, Remi Eriksen, group president and CEO DNV-GL, said “There are many signs that the energy industry is on the brink of profound change. Globally, policy developments, despite some notable exceptions, continue to favour renewables technology. Last year, new renewable power capacity additions were more than double the new power capacity additions from fossil fuels. In capital markets, a reallocation of funds towards cleaner technology is underway.”

With 2020 approaching, most of the world appears to be moving forward reviewing and often strengthening commitments. There is an expectation that climate pledges will be largely fulfilled and extended. This is increasing pressure on fossil fuels, as is the policy goal by an increasing number of countries of achieving near-zero emissions by 2050.

Seven countries have already adopted legally binding commitments to largely eliminate carbon emissions by 2050 – UK, Mexico, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway and Sweden – mostly in line with Paris climate targets, with the Netherlands and California about to join them. This is gradually creating a momentum, with other countries being prompted to join them.

Inevitably this could lead to major reductions in the consumption of fossil fuels, likely to lead to peaking demand well before 2050. Fossil fuels can retain a foothold through adoption of technologies to reduce emissions, otherwise their future use could face extensive scaling-down.

The combination of more ambitious climate policies, technology advances, efficiency improvements and changing social preferences are leading to increasing penetration of cleaner fuels and slow-down in fossil fuel demand. It is social preferences combined with environmental activism that may hasten this transition.

Gas prices in Europe and southeast Asia are already high and may increase further as winter approaches, impacting electricity prices. These are factors that contribute to implementation of greater energy efficiency measures and hastening renewables penetration at the expense of fossil fuels, and may eventually lead to faster peaking of gas consumption if they persist.

Not all doom-and-gloom

The energy sector is changing fast, making long-term forecasts challenging. It is likely that in the longer-term natural gas demand will peak before 2050 and then decline over time. But it is not something that will happen suddenly. In fact, most of these forecasts predict growth in global gas demand over the next twenty or so years, followed by gradual decline.

In addition, renewables have great success penetrating the global power sector, but very limited success in other sectors, such as transport and industry, where displacing fossil fuels is proving to be much harder.

It is important not to miscalculate. Not to let the uncertainty of ‘peak demand’ stifle investment in oil and gas projects prematurely, before renewables and efficiency improvements demonstrate they are able to fill the gap in global energy demand. This could result in energy supply shortfalls and price rises, creating a problem for the global economy.

Source: CyprusMail