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Limassol - Costas Tsielepis & Co staff and guests tried their skills in singing last weekend during Tsielepis Karaoke Night, which revealed that some of the firm’s employees may be in the wrong business.The event was held οn Friday, 17 March 2023 at TePee Rock Bar in the Yermasoyia tourist area and more than 30 members of staff showed up to sing, or attempt to sing, their favourite hits. The night started with hefty dosages of finger foods and the mandatory alcoholic beverages and soon enough the TePee DJ cranked up the Karaoke machine.The Top Voice Award went to VAT Lawyer with Chelco VAT Ltd, Marios Nikolaides, who can easily swap law for singing.Audit soon followed suit with a series of solid performances, while accounting and corporate administration also demonstrated a surprising dexterity at the microphone.Singing and dancing lasted till the midnight hours. At the end, they all agreed that for some this was a night to remember and for others… to forget.More fun staff events are scheduled throughout the year.

Nicosia - Nikos Christodoulides, 49, was elected last Sunday new President of Cyprus. Christodoulides, a former foreign minister and government spokesperson, ran against career diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis, a former chief negotiator in peace talks with Turkey and a former permanent representative of Cyprus to the United Nations. In a runoff round, 204,680 (51,92%) of people voted for Christodoulides, while 189,522 (48,08%) voted for Mavroyiannis. Christodoulides was backed by centre and right-of-centre parties (Diko, Depa, Edek, Solidarity) and Mavroyiannis by left-wing AKEL. Both said they ran as independents. Christodoulides led polls from the very first day of his candidacy. Α close associate of outgoing President Nicos Anastasiades, Christodoulides caused a split in the ruling conservative Disy party when he announced he would run against party leader Averof Neophytou, who was eliminated in the first round of the elections. The 8th President of the Republic of Cyprus faces problems ranging from a deadlock in reunification talks to the Cyprus problem, labour disputes amid runaway inflation and a fallout from corruption scandals, as well as a spike in migration that authorities are unable to cope with. Christodoulides has frequently been in the public eye in the past decade, with the persona of a young, energetic politician offering fresh ideas. He is married to is married to Philippa Karsera and has four daughters, Ioanna, Ekaterini, Despina-Maria, and Phoebe. Outgoing Nicos Anastasiades has been in power since 2013, having been re-elected in 2018.

Limassol – In a celebration of humanity and solidarity, Costas Tsielepis & Co Ltd staff and guests donated blood this week to help save lives. The blood drive was held on Tuesday, 15 November 2022 at the firm’s offices and lasted throughout the morning.   Cyprus is ranked first among EU countries for volunteer blood donations in proportion to its population. One pint of blood can save up to three lives. A single victim of a serious car accident can require more than 50 pints of blood while the average red blood cell transfusion in cancer patients is 3.4 pints, requiring four donors. The Blood Drive was part of the company’s Social and Corporate Responsibility programme.

Limassol - Tsielepis staff ate, drank and chatted the night away last Friday evening during Tsielepis Meze Night at Retro Tavern at Kalavasos village. Set literally on the main road that passes through Kalavasos, Retro Tavern offered the perfect setting for a team-building soirée, accompanied by delicious Cyprus meze and an open bar. There was not a single word spoken about work and the evening offered everyone the opportunity to turn their colleagues into friends and drain away the stress of the daily routine at the office. The Tsielepis staff actually closed the place down and reluctantly made their way back to Limassol after the Retro Tavern waiters discretely started storing the tables away. Next up on the office social calendar is a Karaoke Night.

Nicosia - The Council of Ministers decided last week to extend the deadline for the submission of income tax declarations by individuals for the tax year 2021 to the end of August. The Ministers decree extends the deadline for the submission of the personal income tax return of an individual (employee, pensioner and self-employed without accounts), as well as the deadline for the payment of the tax due according to the said declaration (self-assessment), for the tax year 2021, from 31 July 2022 to 31 August2022. Last week, Tax Commissioner Sotiris Markides, had clarified that any extension to the filing deadline would be accompanied by an extension for the payment of any outstanding taxes arising from the tax form. Income tax forms for 2021 must be filed by salaried employees, pensioners and self-employed individuals with a gross income exceeding €19.500.

Nicosia - Tsielepis staff ate, drank and puffed the night away last Friday evening during Tsielepis Cigar Night at Cohiba Atmosphere Nicosia cigar lounge. The cigar lounge, owned by Costas Tsielepis & Co partner, Alexis Tsielepis, a well-known cigar aficionado, was reserved just for the Tsielepis staff. Alexis’ guests were seated in the lounge’s gorgeous gardens and greeted with a Habanos Quai D Orsay No. 50, followed by a Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona. To complement the unlimited supply of cigars, Alexis, along with the lounge’s chef, Kyriacos, put together a food menu, complete with two signature cocktails just for the evening, which made cigar night a memorable gastronomic experience as well.   For more information on Cohiba Atmosphere Nicosia click here.

Nicosia - The arrivals of tourists in Cyprus reached 372,324 in June 2022 compared to 184.159 in June 2021, recording an increase of 102.2%, according to data published by the Statistical Service of Cyprus this week. For the period of January – June 2022, arrivals of tourists totalled 1,221,382 compared to 340,984 in the corresponding period of 2021, 255,675 in the period of January – June 2020 and 1,631,023 arrivals in the period of January – June 2019. Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for June 2022, with a share of 41.8% (155,703) of total arrivals, followed by Israel with 7.3% (27,288), Poland with 5.8% (21,445), Germany with 5.6% (20,906), Sweden with 5.0% (18,478) and Greece with 3.9% (14,435). For a percentage of 82.0% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in June 2022 was holidays, for 10.9% to visit to friends and relatives and for 7.0% business. Respectively, in June 2021, 82.8% of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 10.9% visited friends or relatives and 6.3% visited Cyprus for business reasons. At the same time, tourist arrivals in Cyprus so far in 2022 are at 75% compared to 2019, said Deputy Minister of Tourism, Savvas Perdios, pointing out that in the context of the current challenges the industry is facing, that percentage is “not bad at all.” Perdios noted that 2019 was a record year for tourism, with more than 4 million arrivals. “So far, we are satisfied,” he said, “and compared to 2021, we are in a much better position.” He added that last year ended at about 50% compared to 2019 and the aim is to exceed last year’s results. There is reserved optimism for the remainder of the year, said Perdios and from what it looks like July, August and September will be very good. On the losses from the Russian market, Perdios mentioned that they amount to 800.000 tourism arrivals, which cannot be replaced overnight.

Limassol - Tsielepis staff blew off some steam on a leisurely cruise along the Limassol coast aboard the catamaran Sail Away, last night. The night cruise included food, music with DJ Panos on the decks, and most importantly, an open bar. The Tsielepis staff ate, drank and danced the night away to the backdrop of the flickering lights of the gorgeous Limassol coastal line. There was not a single word spoken about work and the evening passed in laughter and bonhomie, draining away the stress of the daily routine at the office. Next up on the office social calendar is a visit to cigar lounge, Cohiba Atmosphere Nicosia, for food, drinks and Habanos and later in the month, a Karaoke Night.

Limassol – The Managing Director of Costas Tsielepis & Co Ltd, George Tsielepis, was featured in a special report on Limassol by Gold magazine earlier this month. Most of the issue, which came out on 19 June 2022, was dedicated to Limassol and featured insights from the city’s leaders in their respective fields, including trade & industry, professional services, real estate, tourism, technology etc. It also featured introductions from the Mayor of Limassol and the President of the Limassol Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  Tsielepis, whose interview appeared on page 50, spoke about the many challenges with which the professional services sector is currently faced, the island’s tarnished business reputation and ways to turn things around, the importance of new technology in businesses, the advent of technology companies, and especially FinTechs, on the island and much more. The outspoken Tsielepis predicted that “many professional service firms are involved in a marathon to win new business and it is likely that some may be unable to finish the race,” declared that “the professional services sector in Cyprus was built on foundations that are now outdated,” and that “it seems that lately, the Cyprus banks’ favoured approach is ‘no business, no risk’.” Read the interview, featured below, for more.

Nicosia - Lebanese banks are closing their branches in Cyprus, following a decision by the Lebanon Central Bank, according to a report by the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) released earlier this week. CNA said that Cyprus Central Bank (CBC) sources confirmed the decision by its Lebanese counterpart. In total, seven Lebanese bank branches are closing, with two branches of another two banks have already done so in the past, primarily due to the severe economic crisis currently ravaging Lebanon. The nine Lebanese banks are the Bank of Beirut, BankMed, Banque BEMO, BBAC, BLOM Bank, Byblos Bank, Credit Libanais, IBL Bank and LGB Bank. In April of this year, a report noted that the country’s gross domestic product fell to approximately $20.5 billion in 2021, having stood at roughly $55 billion in 2018. The World Bank said at the time that such a severe downturn is most often the result of wars, adding that the crisis is one of the worst seen on the global stage since the mid-19th century. Regarding the repercussions of the decisions for Cyprus, the Central Bank said that it has been monitoring the situation since 2019 when the situation in Lebanon started to deteriorate. Seeking to avoid any detrimental effects on the Cypriot banking system, the CBC first imposed a limit on the amount of savings in Lebanese banks in Cyprus that would qualify for the deposit guarantee scheme. The measure came into effect in November of 2019. Subsequently, in March of 2020, the Central Bank decided that Lebanese bank branches should transfer to the CBC an equal amount of liquidity to the amount needed to guarantee any deposits. This would ensure that in the event of any issues faced by the banks, there would be enough cash available to pay the guaranteed deposits, meaning those under €100.000, thus protecting the local banking system. In relation to this measure, financial statements of Lebanese banks had shown that a large part of the liquidity received by their branches in Cyprus was placed at the headquarters of the parent organisation in Lebanon. With the Lebanese banks facing a host of problems, there was a risk that these debts would not be paid by the parent banks, resulting in the deposits having to be covered by the Cypriot deposit guarantee scheme. In March of 2021, the CBC also asked these branches to transfer additional liquidity in order to be able to cover 50% of non-guaranteed deposits, meaning those exceeding €100.000. Citing sources close to the issue, CNA said that the above measures resulted in deposits in Lebanese bank branches falling from €650 million at the end of 2019 to €400 million, twelve months later. In addition, in July of 2021, an amendment requested by the CBC gave it the power to undertake the exclusive management of the cash held by a bank in Cyprus, in order to pay the guaranteed deposits of its customers, in the event its bank license was to be revoked. According to the report, even…