Articles 2
24 March 2013
Journalists and politicians keep making fundamental errors about the Cypriot tax system which are so glaring and so obvious, you would think they know better. Paul Krugman joined their ranks with his March 21st opinion piece “Treasure Island Trauma"
25 March 2013
The March 25th Eurozone deal on Cyprus offers a EUR 12.5 billion bail-out of Cyprus: EUR 7.5 billion in loan refinance for the government of Cyprus; the remainder for the recapitalisation of the Cyprus banking system.
26 March 2013
Several news sources are reporting that despite capital controls in Cyprus, numerous payments have been made over the past week. Reuters reported yesterday that Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular Bank branches or subsidiaries in the UK...
28 March 2013
The pushback by more informed or at least more lucid commentators on the Eurozone’s failed bail-out of Cyprus continued over the past two days. Holman Jenkings identified both the hypocrisy of Eurozone leaders...
07 April 2013
Last week, the Central Bank of Japan decided to increase the monetary base by $ 1.43 trillion to 2014. The $ 1.4 trillion would be used primarily to purchase Japanese government bonds, i.e. fund the country's tremendous debt stock and annual deficit.
15 April 2013
Press reports over the weekend disclose that Skorpios Island Greece, originally developed by Aristotle Onassis in the 1960s, has been purchased by Ekaterina Rybolovleva for over $ 100 million.
28 May 2013
The German wine market offers an attractive outlet for wine producers taking into account market size and relative economic stability. Yet many challenges also exist, primarily low prices and concentration in the retail market.
04 August 2013
Hotels in Athens are hit by the traditional summer season slump, as tourists increasingly bypass the city to the island hotspots. There is abundant evidence that the vaunted 17 million tourists extolled by Greek Minister of Tourism Olga Kefaloyianni.
15 September 2013
This article reviews the business relationship of Ukraine and Cyprus in light of the November 2012 Double Tax Treaty and the March 2013 depositor bail-in and capital controls. It reviews the risk management options available to investors...
17 July 2014
The Cyprus tourism sector has rightly been identified as a priority for the economic recovery of the country. Forecasts for 2014 tourist arrivals are positive, with both the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and other sources...
25 September 2014
In May 2012, we published an article entitled “Strategic Development Options for Oil and Gas in Cyprus.” At that time, Noble had just started its drilling programme in Block 12 and had announced gas resources between 5-8 trillion cubic feet.
13 November 2014
COSMOTE is Greece’s largest mobile telecoms operator. In 2013, it had sales of € 1.86 billion and an EBITDA of 34.1%. It also proudly announced that it won the National Award for Customer Service.
07 January 2015
Greece faces public debt maturities of € 22 billion in 2015. Current financial reserves are possibly sufficient to pay for the first quarter of 2015. The opposition party SYRIZA, which leads the polls in the January 25th 2015 election, has suggested that it will use...
10 January 2015
Despite five years of “structural reforms” and repeated promises by every single Greek political party to “reform the tax system”, the distortions in the Greek tax code continue. This is illustrated nowhere more clearly than in two decisions announced...
19 January 2015
With an effective interest rate of 1.7%, and a debt service share of government expenditure at 11%, Greece actually has more favourable debt service conditions that the United States. So why all the fuss about Greek debt?
21 January 2015
Elections in Greece are scheduled for January 25th 2015. This article outlines a baseline scenario for the consequences of a SYRIZA election and its political and economic Elections in Greece are scheduled for January 25th 2015.
27 February 2015
Sustainability of public debt is a function of several factors. Each factor is important in different ways and at different points in time. A brief review of different factors used by financial and strategic investors to judge sustainability...
15 March 2015
Many analysts and commentators have been discussing the potential of a Greek exit from the Eurozone, or “Grexit”. This is a very complex subject which cannot easily be assessed without a detailed econometric assessment of Greece’s economy and a wider assessment...
20 March 2015
I’ve been seeing pictures of Kouklia Village and particularly the Panagia Odigitria Church since I first visited Cyprus in 1993. Today I finally had the chance to see the original. It is spectacular. Notes from a visit to Kouklia.
23 March 2015
Nearly two months ago, on the evening of January 25th, SYRIZA won 36.34% of the Greek popular vote and was called upon to form a government. This post examines the government's progress since then, and reviews the fabled "somersault"...