Other significant players were Embark Ventures, The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, Massachusetts Clean Energy Centre (MassCEC), Safar Partners, Climate Investment and Marathon Petroleum Corporation. The venture will now use the fresh capital to scale its business, apart from financing the deployment of a modular filtration platform into the refining and chemical sectors.

Via Separations’ expertise lies in providing filtration systems designed to lower energy use in industrial separation processes by up to 90%, apart from significantly reducing emissions in industrial processing.

Electrifying Heat-based Separation

“Via Separations is a membrane technology company driving the transition from expensive, energy-intensive thermal separations to efficient, lower-cost filtration. Via is operating at commercial scale, delivering value to industrial customers today with no green premium. Via Separations is a membrane technology company driving the transition from expensive, energy-intensive thermal separations to efficient, lower-cost filtration. Via is operating at commercial scale, delivering value to industrial customers today with no green premium,” the start-up explained itself through these words.

Via electrifies heat-based separation with modular filtration systems that integrate directly with existing industrial equipment, reducing the energy required for chemical separations in the process.

“These thermal separation steps account for roughly 12% of global energy use, driving significant fuel and steam demand across industrial separations. By replacing them with a mechanically driven membrane process, Via’s system can reduce energy use at the separation step by up to 90%, delivering lower operating costs, higher uptime, and a more flexible pathway to energy efficiency and electrification,” Via Separations remarked.

Via Separations’ membrane technology uses up to 90% less energy than traditional evaporation or distillation because it is a physical separation, rather than a thermal process. In the start-up’s language, “these membranes work like a coffee filter or pasta strainer, but for chemicals.”

These materials are made of a unique source called graphene oxide (GO), which is extremely stable in nature, ensuring the membranes withstand high temperature and corrosive process conditions, where typical polymer membranes don’t work at all. Via Separations has already proven the membrane technology at commercial scale in the pulp and paper sector, approaching two years of continuous operation at a Canadian pulp mill. The start-up is now expanding the technology’s deployment into refining and chemicals, with hundreds of millions of dollars of capital projects in the commercial pipeline. In 2025, the company also completed a pilot at a major Gulf Coast refinery.

The Via Ecosystem

Through its filtration systems, the start-up is driving both bottom- and top-line improvements for its industrial customers, reducing energy costs, apart from providing operational flexibility and de-bottlenecking production.

The start-up has tuned its durable graphene oxide membranes to perform challenging industrial separations across markets. The start-up continued, “Complete system integrates Via membranes into customers’ existing processes in a compact footprint. Via systems deliver quality separations while reducing costs, energy, and production bottlenecks.”

A very good example of Via Separations’ industrial innovation has been its first commercial-scale Black Liquor Concentration System (BLCS), which is operational at the International Paper site in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. The global pulp and paper industry, known for annually producing over 400 million tonnes of paper, packaging, and tissue from wood fibres and recycled materials, faces one challenge: black liquor recovery. We are talking about the most capital and energy-intensive component of a Kraft pulp mill, which burns waste cooking liquor (12%-15% solids) in a specialised boiler to produce energy (steam/electricity) and recover inorganic cooking chemicals.

To address the challenge, Via has created Black Liquor Concentration System (BLCS), which concentrates weak black liquor before evaporation, translating to cost savings and operational benefits for pulp mills.

“Via’s Black Liquor Concentration System (BLCS) displaces steam use in evaporators using a reverse-osmosis-like process to directly remove hot, clean water from weak black liquor (WBL). The compact BLCS integrates into existing mill footprints to concentrate WBL up to 40% solids,” the start-up said.

Via Separations’ efficient concentration process eliminates production bottlenecks and reduces the energy consumption of black liquor concentration by up to 50%. The technology, if widely deployed, will help pulp mills realise additional free cash flow in the millions of dollars per year.

In the petrochemical industry, despite heavy crudes becoming more prevalent, refineries are facing limited capabilities when it comes to processing the fuel due to the size of the vacuum distillation unit (VDU). To solve this, Via filtration system is increasing the VDU capacity, reducing costs and energy consumption while unlocking additional heavy crude processing capacity.

Via’s innovations have been expanding in the chemical manufacturing industry as well. Acid processing is a large market that touches both the chemicals and refining sectors. Knowing the potential, Via is looking to provide on-site processing of sulfuric acid, reducing costs and emissions while enabling recovery of acid-soluble oils (ASOs).

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However, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders suggests the overall industry outlook is cloudy because most sales reflected orders placed before the Iran war began. The industry body also expressed concerns over consumer confidence and vehicle affordability.

“The headlines belie the costs incurred and the challenges involved,” said SMMT Chief Mike Hawes, noting that March is typically the busiest month in a financial year and that strong demand from private buyers boosted new car registrations.

However, the latest data shows the new vehicle market maintaining its sales uptick, which started in December 2025. Still, the Middle East conflict, now in a two-week ceasefire phase, pushed oil prices beyond the USD 100-barrel mark, creating clouds of uncertainty for economies worldwide.

“We expect the good run of form in the car registrations data will grind to a halt ‌in the ⁠coming months, as the weight of surging energy costs and the prospect of (rate) hikes from the (BoE) MPC curbs affordability,” said Elliott Jordan-Doak, a senior economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, while interacting with Reuters.

According to the United Kingdom’s SMMT, volatile geopolitics and the surge in fuel costs may increase demand for electric vehicles while risking higher energy and supply chain costs.

“Battery electric vehicles recorded their best month in terms of volumes in March, though their overall market share remained at 22.6%, well below the government‑mandated target, opens new tab of 33% for 2026,” the industry body remarked, while stating that Tesla’s new registrations in the European country rose 20% from a year earlier to 8,599 units, trailing Chinese peer BYD’s nearly 134% jump to 15,162 units.

“With uncertainty around the cost of fuel, electric vehicle enquiries are on the up, as consumers look to electric as an attractive alternative to petrol and diesel vehicles,” said Jamie Hamilton, automotive partner and head of electric vehicles at ⁠Deloitte.

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While spot gold rose 1.1% to USD 4,559.46 per ounce, hitting its highest since March 20, US gold futures for April delivery gained 0.7% to USD 4,588. However, it was still not enough to offset the bullion’s more than 13% decline in March, putting it on track for its steepest ⁠fall since October 2008.

“You could probably describe the recovery we’re seeing in gold as something of a dead cat bounce, which is to say not much of a bounce at all. If indeed (US President) Donald ⁠Trump can exit himself from what could become a very protracted event, then we could see oil and the dollar coming off, which would be gold positive. But we’re ‌not in that position yet,” independent ‌analyst Ross Norman told Reuters.

The dollar, on the other hand, headed for its biggest monthly gain since July 2025, making greenback-priced bullion more expensive. The month-long Middle East war has already sent oil prices surging, raising the risk of global recession, as the global energy trade through the vital Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, with no conflict resolution on the horizon so far.

Discussing gold, the go-to hedge against inflation and geopolitical risks, it has fallen more than 14% since the war began on February 28, as rising expectations of a hawkish monetary policy outlook weighed on the non-yielding metal.

According to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, money market participants ‌have completely priced out any chance of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in 2026 from about two cuts expected before the conflict.

Goldman Sachs, however, expects gold prices to reach USD 5,400 per troy ounce by the end of 2026, as the financial giant still sees two US interest-rate cuts this year.

Meanwhile, spot silver rose 4.2% to USD 72.90 per ounce, while spot platinum ‌gained 0.9% to USD 1,916.70, and palladium went up 2.8% at USD 1,445.71.

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The goals outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming require a significant drop in carbon emissions by 2050 across the verticals of the global socio-economic order, by shifting completely away from oil and gas consumption.

“We ⁠must, however, confront our ambition with reality and acknowledge that our societies have embarked on a transition, but at a pace that does not yet allow for the collective achievement of carbon neutrality as pursued under the Paris Agreement. Our own ability to achieve carbon neutrality together with society depends on technical innovation, public policies and consumer choices, meaning that the pathways to our carbon neutrality ambition must be reassessed and adapted over time in line with the ‌evolution ⁠of the global energy system,” TotalEnergies said in its annual sustainability report.

While TotalEnergies’ European peers BP and Shell aim to bring down the carbon intensity in their energy products by 2050, they have also said that the pace at which society transitions away from hydrocarbons would be an important factor to achieve the deadline.

“The company is not in a position to adopt a transition plan as defined by the European reporting standards and, as a result, cannot formulate ‘Net Zero’ targets in the meaning of these standards,” TotalEnergies said.

Recently, Reuters reported that “in ⁠2025, the French oil major emitted 368 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, the bulk of which were so-called Scope 3 emissions from clients burning purchased fuels. ⁠This was down from 376 million tons in 2024 and within the company’s target to keep these emissions under 400 million tons through to 2030.”

The post TotalEnergies to reassess net zero plans, cites slow transition appeared first on International Finance.

It was funded under the first call for proposals of Italy’s “National Recovery and Resilience Plan” and partly backed by the European Union’s “Next Generation EU Recovery Fund.”

The charging stations are spread across five regions, namely Campania, Lazio, Lombardy, Puglia, and Sicily, which cover around 21 provinces. The densest clusters are in the major cities, with Rome leading at 396 charging points, followed by Naples with 298, Milan with 227, Bari with 111, and Catania with 112.

Southern Italy boasts most of the charging stations, with around 40%. It’s important to note that the region had a weaker charging infrastructure historically and has now gotten a meaningful boost.

The new charging stations operate by providing an output of approximately 90 kilowatts of power per connector, allowing two electric vehicles to charge simultaneously and reducing driver wait times. Users can access this charging network through the “Enel On Your Way” app or card, or via 160 interoperable mobility service providers available in Italy and abroad. This system ensures that multiple EV brands can plug in without any difficulty.

The stations have POS terminals so customers can use their debit or credit card just like they would at a petrol station.

The first PNRR batch accounts for about 50% of the grants awarded so far. The three PNRR calls for urban charging infrastructure. PNRR stands for “Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza,” which translates to National Recovery and Resilience Plan in English.

This plan is Italy’s effort to modernise its economy after the COVID-19 crisis through a huge package of grants and loans from the EU fund.

The PNRR pumps 191-194 billion euros into six big missions, which include digitalisation, green transition, and sustainable transport. Additionally, the funds also target educational research, inclusion, and healthcare.

The project funds various initiatives, including electric vehicle charging networks, renewable energy projects, school upgrades, and digital government reforms. PNRR also absorbs a large share of the cost. Companies bid for calls for proposals run by ministries.

The 3,730 EV charging points in Italy were partly financed under the first PNRR call for urban electric vehicle charging infrastructure, which is why you see PNRR linked to that rollout.

Enel is already working on an additional 200 charging points through the second and third PNRR calls, which will bring its total to around 5,000 charging points across nine regions, including Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, and Tuscany.

For the business and retail sectors, EV expansion makes logistics easier while supporting the European nations’ energy transition goals.

The post Through 3,730 charging points, Enel plugs in Italy’s EV future appeared first on International Finance.

Economists Konstantinos Gavrilidis, Ramya Raghavan, and Jim Stock published a new paper, titled “The Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Policy Uncertainty,” stating that climate policy uncertainty curbs investments, output, and employment while increasing prices. They found that climate change denial has stagflationary effects that compound and complicate policy responses.

By analysing millions of newspaper articles dating back to the 1980s, these economists created a monthly index of US climate policy uncertainty that tracks legislative debates, regulatory reversals, and shifts in international climate commitments.

Their research found that when this index spikes, such as during the 2009 Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade Bill or the 2017 US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, macroeconomic models indicated that businesses respond by cutting back on investment, scaling down production plans, and postponing hiring and research.

Simultaneously, the risk of future tightening in emission standards or compliance costs raises expected future production costs, which helps transmit the uncertainty into higher applied prices.

When company policies change unpredictably, companies become uncertain. They act or respond to policy uncertainty just like they would to a financial risk, such as currency swings or interest rate moves.

Firms related to climate change risks, such as energy producers, heavy manufacturers, car makers, and even big tech firms with large data centre footprints, don’t treat climate rules as a distant problem. They begin to adjust spending, borrowing, and hiring plans according to climate policy.

The report reveals that when climate policy uncertainty occurs, firms cut back on capital spending, resulting in fewer new factories, power plants, production lines, and renewable energy projects. This shift can lead to a 5%-15% drop in annual investments for exposed companies over a few years, depending heavily on the intensity of the regulatory back-and-forth.

Furthermore, there is a notable scale-back on research and development, particularly in clean tech. Since green energy often only becomes profitable under strict emission rules, this uncertainty inadvertently slows down innovation in several key areas, including battery storage, electric vehicles, and industrial decarbonisation.

In simple terms, when businesses can’t be sure what climate rules will look like in five to ten years, they stop treating climate policy just as a policy issue and start treating it as a real financial risk that affects how much they build, invent, hire, and borrow.

Companies seen as more vulnerable to climate rules often see their stock prices suffer or become more volatile, and their borrowing costs also rise slightly. Even analyst ratings turn a little bit more cautious.

The cost of uncertainty that businesses absorb is then fed back into the broader economy, making growth slower and transitions bumpier than they would be if there were clear, stable rules.

The post US’ climate policy uncertainty: A global macro risk appeared first on International Finance.

The 2012-13 bailout had left its scars. There were bank haircuts, capital controls, and a new international infamy for economic secrecy. From Riga to Rome, every finance minister complained about the plight of its smaller neighbour and included a mention of “Cyprus” in their geopolitical shorthand.

Fast-forward to 2026, and the footnote has become a case study. The recent update to the real GDP growth forecast sees the pace of expansion slowing to 3.1% this year from 3.8% in 2025. Yes, it is slower than the previous year, but still remarkable for a nation to pull off during all this geopolitical volatility.

Take the latest data, for example. In Q4 2025, Cyprus’ economy expanded 4.5% on a year-on-year basis, up from 3.6% in the previous period. The milestone also marked the strongest economic expansion since Q4 2022, with the main drivers being the wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, information and communication, and hotels and restaurants (+7.2%). Construction also recorded strong growth, rising 9.2%, while manufacturing increased by 4.7%.

In another piece of good news, tourist inflows (which skyrocketed to €3.7 billion in 2025) from the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Israel, Greece, France, and Sweden played a solid hand in propelling Cyprus to its historic GDP growth, while the Mediterranean island emerged as one of Europe’s most sought-after destinations. The boom also benefited the airline and hospitality industries, with airlines like British Airways, easyJet, and Ryanair expanding their services to accommodate the ever-growing number of visitors. Hotels and resorts in the island region, on the other hand, responded by ramping up their offerings, from luxury accommodations to eco-friendly resorts, ensuring a diverse range of options for all types of travellers.

Remarkable fiscal story

In 2025, Cyprus recorded a budget surplus of €939.2 million. Let that sink in for a moment. We are talking about a small island country with its own unique set of problems and challenges. The country is located in a volatile region, subject to tensions between Greece and Turkey. There are also costs associated with meeting EU targets for reducing carbon emissions and the costs of bringing salaries for government workers in line with those in the private sector. The employee salaries peaked at €4.13 billion in 2025. And yet, a budget surplus of €939.2 million was still recorded.

The ceiling for next year’s state budget is €10.7 billion, or €11.3 billion without interest costs. It is a political and economic price that was set with considerable care. In a eurozone periphery country such as Cyprus, this is something seen rarely and achieved even more rarely, as the fiscal discipline required is not always accompanied by the same degree of political consensus. The fiscal leeway was available, but action only followed as the debt crisis escalated and a new government came into power at the end of 2023, when public debt was at 73.6% of GDP. Now it is projected to fall to 52.9% of GDP by the end of 2026. This is no small reduction. It is a reduction of a historical and almost revolutionary character.

According to Cyprus’ Deputy Finance Minister Irene Piki, “Multi-year planning, more predictable policy, and fiscal space earned through responsible and reform-based ways rather than increased borrowing ensures high household, business, and investor confidence.”

She is right. And the timing of this issue must also be taken into consideration. With the war in Ukraine, energy-price volatility, and the costs of achieving the EU’s ambitious climate and digital agendas, Europe’s overall fiscal situation is extremely difficult. Most member states are feeling the strain, though a few, such as Poland, are coping better than expected. Others, like Bulgaria and Slovenia, will hardly notice any short-term impact from the EU’s fiscal rules for the next few years.

Cyprus is not in this group, but it will no longer be in the minority either. It will assume the EU Council presidency in the first half of 2026, at a time when all other member states with higher budget deficits will be trying to keep a low fiscal profile in advance of a potential EU debt-mutualisation discussion, while others will be more than happy to oblige by not questioning the fiscal prudence of the presidency. Cyprus’s economic model, which has proven itself in recent years to be sustainable despite high inflation and even though the country is heavily indebted, should attract worldwide attention during its presidency and generally face appreciation for its achievements.

The tech revolution

Here’s an honest take. Tourism is the story that gets the headlines, but tech is stealing the show, and that’s where the smart money is heading.

By the end of 2025, Cyprus’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector contributed roughly 16% to national Gross Value Added (GVA). That is approximately €8.5 billion. The island now ranks second in the EU for ICT’s share of national GVA, ahead of economies with ten times the population and four times the infrastructure investment. The workforce in tech has more than tripled over the past decade, now exceeding 26,000 professionals. Cyprus ranks fifth in the EU for GVA per ICT employee. In productivity, in other words, not just headcount.

The talent pipeline is being deliberately engineered. Non-resident professionals earning over €55,000 annually get a 50% income-tax exemption. There is also a Digital Nomad Visa and streamlined residency for spouses of international workers. The type of person this attracts is mobile, high-earning, plugged into global networks, and likely to bring their employer with them or start something new once they are settled. In March 2026, the Research and Innovation Foundation sent a national pavilion to the 4YFN summit in Barcelona, showcasing eight companies in AI, robotics, and agritech. One Cypriot portfolio company, Threedium, was selected as one of only ten firms globally to present on the main NVIDIA GTC 2026 stage. That’s not luck.

TechIsland, the sector’s coordinating platform, has done the unglamorous but essential work of bridging local entrepreneurs with international executives. The ecosystem is self-reinforcing now, which is the point where you stop worrying about whether it is sustainable and start worrying about whether the housing stock can keep up.

What are the key factors helping the country’s tech sector? Let’s start with Cyprus’ geographical location. The Mediterranean island sits at the intersection of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, giving companies access to huge markets if they prefer using the nation as their manufacturing and R&D hubs. Imagine businesses keen on maximising their prospects in the European market but also want outreach to Israel’s $100 billion tech sector, along with emerging Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries, Cyprus can become the base camp. Also, the country’s legal system is rooted in English common law, making it instantly familiar for those used to British or commonwealth standards.

Then comes the 12.5% corporate tax rate, one of the lowest in the European Union (EU). To sweeten things further, there is an “IP Box Regime” that results in qualifying intellectual property income being taxed at an effective rate of just 2.5%. Businesses holding IP in domains like software, AI, fintech patents, or video games get massive leverage for reinvestment and expansion in the Mediterranean island, as taxation remains simplified and pocket-friendly, compared to high-tax countries. The administration is actively courting the cause of the island nation becoming a regional tech hub by backing initiatives such as “Startup Cyprus” and the “Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme.”

Promise of energy utopia

Shipping accounts for more than 7% of the country’s GDP and often receives insufficient attention in debates that focus on new sectors. Now, though, the evidence is plain to see. The shipping sector is a major source of revenue. Cyprus alone accounts for around 4% of the global merchant fleet, while more than 20% of worldwide third-party ship-management activities are carried out from here. The figure for ship-management revenues for the first half of 2025 was €978 million, an increase of 6.7% on the previous quarter.

And that’s a lot of concentration! The top 27% of the companies account for 85% of total sales. Germany and Greece are the number one and two trading partners, respectively, accounting for 30% and 13% of sales.

In November 2023, the One-Stop Shipping Centre was established, which currently serves more than 300 shipping companies benefiting from the tonnage-tax regime. Almost all shipping companies based in Cyprus benefit from this, apart from the four historical ship-owning companies, which, in accordance with the current tonnage-tax legislation, are not allowed to gain an advantage through the new policies.

The overall gross tonnage of the Cyprus ship registry has increased by 20% over the last two years, reaching the highest level in the last two decades. A real and tangible effort is being made to modernise shipping further through the sponsorship of robotics and digital-technology-related scholarships and the upgrading of the associated educational infrastructure, as well as research into alternatives and new methods to support the greening of shipping. Shipping contributes significantly to the island’s employment sector, both in terms of direct and indirect on-shore employment (over 9,000 people) and the huge number of seafarers (80,000 and more) employed onboard vessels managed by companies based in Cyprus and therefore also indirectly contributing to the economies of the ports of call. Cyprus wants to maintain and further develop this very important sector.

Gas fields have been “coming soon” for years, and one can excuse the sarcasm. But now, for the first time in more than a decade, all indications are that 2026 will actually see the start of production of two giant offshore fields in Eastern Mediterranean gas. The Aphrodite gas field in Block 12, estimated to hold between 3.9 and 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, is slowly but surely moving towards its commercial development, following the recent memorandum of understanding signed by Egypt, Cyprus, and Chevron over the proposed pipeline project that will transport the gas from Cyprus to Egypt. The Kronos field in Block 6, operated by Eni, is also expected to reach a final investment decision this year, with first gas scheduled for 2028. The fact that the distance between the field and the Zohr field in Egypt, where the necessary infrastructure has already been built and is currently being used, will be largely compensated for by the intended infrastructure that will be built for the purposes of transporting Aphrodite’s gas to Egypt.

The energy situation in Cyprus is quite tough domestically. The EU carbon-allowance price is projected to reach €95 per tonne by 2026, and there is no exception for Cyprus in terms of compliance with the EU ETS, which will cost €490 million this year and will also be transferred to consumers through energy bills. The LNG terminal of Vasilikos, which has been delayed for many years, is expected to enter operation during the second half of 2026. The Great Sea Interconnector, which connects the Cypriot electricity grid with the Greek grid via Israel, is still considered a strategic investment, but is more at the level of intentions so far.

The offshore gas story is truly a major issue for the Eastern Mediterranean region’s energy future. In the meantime, however, Cypriots are forced to endure among the highest energy prices in the region. That is where the current government’s otherwise respectable record falls short.

Tax exemptions to the rescue

The story of the revival of the banking system in Cyprus is a very long and fascinating one. We are talking about a sector where non-performing loans (NPLs) comprised 49% of the total outstanding loans in 2016. It was not so much a sector with problems that required remedial action; it was a complete banking crisis that had been frozen in time. Today, the total of NPLs as a percentage of total outstanding loans is 3.2% at the end of 2025. The downward trend of NPLs, following a period of stagnation that coincided with the imposed capital-control regime of 2013, reflects in part the huge quantities of NPLs that have been sold and in part the successful completion of a large number of restructuring plans of exposures.

There was a big change in Cypriot tax law, and we believe it is the first significant change in tax laws introduced in the last two decades. The new laws took effect on 1 January 2026. Under the catch-phrase of meeting the OECD Pillar Two global minimum-tax rate, we are talking about a drastic increase in the corporate-tax rate from 12.5% to 15%. As such, it has been a very controversial move, and one can very easily understand why. But it was an inevitable decision.

Dividend tax has increased. The deemed-dividend distribution rules for profits earned after 2026 have been abolished. The special defence contribution on the actual dividends paid out from profits earned after 2026 reduces from 17% to 5%. The personal-income-tax-free threshold has increased to €22,000 from €19,500. The 8% flat tax on cryptocurrency gains and the 120% super-deduction for qualifying research and development expenditure are a couple of steps taken towards the future. A couple of things to note regarding the recent corporate-tax-rate increase and how it is being applied in the professional-services sector. Companies in the sector are already shifting toward digital assets, AI-related regulation, and wealth-mobility advisory services in response to the tax-rate increase. The pace of change can be dramatic.

Misfortune of thriving real estate

The consequences of rapid expansion are inevitable. As reported earlier, property transactions in January 2026 reached their highest level since 2008, with 1,411 contracts being deposited, an 11% increase on the corresponding period last year. Annual price rises in Paphos and Famagusta reached 25% and 23% respectively. The value of transactions in the Limassol premium market accounts for a third of the total.

As we already know, the rate at which property prices increase is around 5%–7% annually, and salaries in the country are still not high enough to absorb even remotely the current rental rates. Rent accounts for a staggering 32.3% of the average household’s monthly income in Limassol. The average monthly rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in the city centre of Limassol is around €1,300.

The government plans to complete 244 affordable residential properties allocated to low-income families in all major municipalities across the country by the end of 2026, while a private partnership is expected to deliver 1,000 affordable rental homes, with the municipality also expected to set aside €16 million for a new subsidised project in Limassol and €12 million for a similar scheme in Strovolos. This is not bad, but there are still very few measures to curb the problem of affordable housing. Remember, however, that problems related to affordability usually go unnoticed for years until they hit the headlines and cause mayhem.

Tourism income has reached €3.69 billion, up 15.2% year-on-year, with visitor numbers exceeding 4.5 million for the first time, and tourism’s share of GDP standing at around 14%. A services surplus of over €2.8 billion was recorded in the third quarter of 2025 alone, in large part due to the goods-trade deficit being a structural feature of the economy.

Tourism is trendy but is cyclical, weather-dependent, geopolitically volatile, and above all requires low-cost air travel. In the technology and shipping space, the trends are more structural. We are not diminishing the success of tourism, which remains very strong, but policymakers need to remember that it is just a base that needs to be expanded upon rather than a plateau to be sat out on.

The bottom line

The future looks promising, but it is not without challenges. The job market is extremely tight, with unemployment at just 4.5%. It means everyone who needs a job has a job, but there aren’t enough workers to boost spending power any further.

Cyprus has 1.38 million people and is one of the EU’s smaller member states, with most of them residing in cities like Nicosia and Limassol.

Though the population is growing through immigration, the median age is around 40 years, which means that people are ageing quickly and productivity is decreasing. On top of that, birth rates are really low, with around 1.5 children per woman.

Cyprus is struggling to find fresh talent. And it is in a race against time. If they cannot find enough working population to support their rapidly ageing population, their economy could suffer greatly.

Moreover, foreign firms invest heavily in Cyprus but pull back profits. The repatriation of profits contributed to around 7% of the GDP account deficit. The Fiscal Council notes that domestic reinvestment is weak and FDI seems “transient” without deeper local ties.

To combat this, Cyprus introduced new screening rules. From April 2, 2026, non-EU and Swiss investors need pre-approval for €2 million plus deals that require a 25% or more stake in strategic sectors such as AI, tech, health, and energy. If they do not comply, they risk fines up to €50,000 or a shutdown due to non-compliance. The bureaucracy adds two to three months of delay, increased legal fees, and various uncertainties for companies that want to invest in the island. Investors might want to look for other nations with better ease of doing business.

Cyprus has historically attracted FDI through lax rules, but is now forced to align these standards with the EU. However, this oversight often leads to increased friction through red tape, and geopolitical checks (Investigating Russian and other controversial links). Foreign investors were drawn to low taxes and golden passports, which ended in 2020. Massive FDI, especially from Russian companies, peaked at $33 billion in 2015 and fueled the real estate boom. Russian investments reached 80% of the total FDI of Cyprus. However, it also enabled round-tripping and sanction evasion after the Ukrainian crisis.

The 2024 data from the Central Bank of Cyprus reveals that Russian FDI stock in Cyprus hovers at €83.46 billion and has plummeted drastically from €135.7 billion in 2022. The €52 billion drop is attributed to Western sanctions and geopolitical tension.

Look, small open economies are always vulnerable to things they cannot control, such as energy shocks, regional conflict, shifts in EU policy, and global capital-flow reversals. Cyprus is not immune. But the combination of fiscal discipline, a diversified sectoral base, a sophisticated banking system, and a government that has made genuinely difficult structural decisions creates a degree of resilience that was not there a decade ago. These are not vanity metrics. They are signals that the growth dividends are being reinvested rather than extracted.

Is everything perfect? No. Energy costs remain a drag. Housing affordability is a genuine social tension. And the gas fields, however promising, have a long way to go before they change balance-of-payments arithmetic.

But Cyprus in 2026 is a fundamentally different proposition than it was in 2013. It has earned the right to be taken seriously. Definitely not as a tax-haven footnote or a bailout cautionary tale, but as a small economy that looked hard at what it wanted to be and built its way toward it with more discipline than most expected. That’s a story worth telling.

The post Cyprus: The island rebound appeared first on International Finance.

This puts Africa in a particularly enviable position, as it holds over USD 30 trillion worth of rare earth minerals required for batteries and other equipment necessary for a complete green energy transition. The continent also has about 48% of the world’s manganese, 22% of natural graphite, 55% of the world’s cobalt deposits, and notable shares of nickel and lithium.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is responsible for 70% of global cobalt production. South Africa, Gabon, and Ghana produce 60% of global manganese.

But the arrangements from its colonial past still linger on in the African economy, as Western governments and corporations still view the continent as a mine to extract resources from rather than a genuine partner who can add value and create industrial products useful for the global economy.

No major international player is speaking about Africa using its wealth for internal economic transformation. Most just see it as an ore supplier. And though ore supplies will create a few jobs, it will continue to be an aftermath of colonialism. Africans desperately want to be a part of the refining, processing and manufacturing side of the supply chain.

Domestic plants could create thousands of jobs as opposed to the few hundred jobs offered through traditional resource extraction. Policymakers in Africa have long called for local beneficiation (value addition done on African soil). They want the critical minerals to be used for industrialisation at home and not just for global decarbonisation.

For example, Africa has $2.8 trillion worth of iron ore, which could be worth $25 trillion in steel if it adds value. The USD 834 billion in bauxite could be worth USD 15.4 trillion in aluminium with full processing.

Industrialisation is a matter of urgency for the continent as its population is exploding, with 30 million people born annually. Without manufacturing jobs, most of these young workers wouldn’t be able to land their first job. Building a mineral-to-manufacturing corridor will reduce Africa’s import bill by USD 16 billion annually.

Mining jobs in the DRC support over 100,000 people. In Namibia, there are 20,000 workers, and in Zambia, there are over 70,000. With value addition, millions more can enter the workforce.

The myriad nations of Africa cannot hope to bargain with the great European and American powers alone. It’s only through a grand union that they can even hope to negotiate a fair deal.

This is exactly why African Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is an important part of this equation. Without the AfCFTA coordinated policies on taxes, prices and beneficiation will be impossible. The exploitative bilateral deals which have stolen wealth from African mines will no longer hold in front of a unified front.

Africa has over 1.4 billion people, and the vast continent with so many people can make value addition seamless as opposed to a single country taking this route. For example, cross-border power grids could supply energy to all plants and make African companies competitive and sustainable.

This grand ambition is constrained by persistent challenges, including governance risks, infrastructure deficits, global resistance to domestic processing, and regulatory inconsistencies. But there is hope left, as reforms in Ghana (bauxite), Zambia (copper), and Kenya (digital licensing) indicate policy progress. America and Europe prefer or even incentivise processing on their own turf. But Africans must negotiate fair inclusion in the value chains if they are going to remain relevant in the 21st century.

Energy and sustainability are also a big headache. No mineral-based industrialisation is possible without reliable and clean power. Africans can explore several options for sustainable power refining, including green hydrogen, hydropower, and geothermal energy. Clean energy can be combined with mineral processing, particularly in East Africa, for a competitive edge.

The IEA says that lithium demand would be fivefold in 2040, and demands for cobalt and rare earth may rise by 50%-60%, with copper by about 30%-50%.

A deal without technology transfer, skill development, and joint ventures is not in Africa’s interest. According to AfCFTA, if the strategy is effective, African nations could increase their bargaining power to a level comparable to the GCC’s bargaining power at the height of oil production in the 20th century.

The post IF Insights: Rare earths emerge as Africa’s new leverage point appeared first on International Finance.

Tareq Amin gave the update while speaking at the PIF Private Sector Forum (held on February 9th and 10th), stating that the Kingdom has the necessary resources, including abundant energy supplies and strong geographic connectivity, to establish itself as a global AI powerhouse.

The Humain CEO’s remarks also align with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy, which seeks to transform the Kingdom into a leading regional technology hub by the end of the decade.

“Humain is a company that has an ambition to become a global player in this important space. We are an AI total value chain company, focused on Humain core, which is our data centres. These are not small data centres. We are talking about gigawatt capacity,” Tareq Amin said.

Emphasising the critical role of energy in AI’s development, Tareq Amin said, “AI is an energy game. We have power, energy affordability and abundance, connectivity, land, and water. We have all that it needs to translate Saudi Arabia into the world’s largest AI token exporter.”

Tareq Amin further revealed that Saudi Arabia plans to launch and commercialise its own operating system in the coming months, potentially becoming the third country after the United States and China to do so.

“One thing I was deciding was whether to show you this here, but we have a big event coming at LEAP, and we will commercialise this. In the last meeting we had with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he referred to operating systems, specifically whether to use Windows or Mac. Saudi Arabia will be the first country outside the US and China that will commercialise its own operating system,” he said.

Talking about Humain, in January 2026, the venture agreed to a financing framework of up to USD 1.2 billion to expand AI and digital infrastructure across the Kingdom. The non-binding agreement outlines financing terms to develop up to 250 megawatts of AI data centre capacity to serve Humain’s local, regional, and global customers.

In December 2025, the company partnered with Saudi Telecom Co. to form a joint venture focused on developing and operating AI-driven data centres in the Kingdom. According to a Tadawul filing, Humain will hold a 51% stake in the venture, while stc will own the remaining 49%.

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Zawya Projects reveal that the move is part of an energy investment plan approved by the government with private sector partnership at a cost of around JOD 3 billion (USD 4.2 billion).

The plan includes projects covering gas, electricity, solar and wind power, and storage batteries to be offered to private investors. The largest one in the plan involves investment of JOD 700 million to connect the Risha gas field in the eastern desert to the Arab gas pipeline, the Kingdom TV and other media outlets said, citing a government report.

The report, however, did not mention the purpose of the link, but Jordanian officials said in 2025 that such a project would allow the Gulf country to export gas from Risha, apart from expanding the domestic gas distribution network after the field development is completed.

The 1,200-kilometre Arab gas pipeline originates near Arish in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and was built more than 20 years ago to export Egyptian natural gas to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, with branch underwater and overland pipelines to and from Israel.

The USD 1.2 billion pipeline has been used intermittently since its inauguration. However, it faced huddles like dramatic reduction in Egyptian gas exports in 2011 due to sabotage, followed by gas shortages in the nation, which forced it to discontinue energy exports by the mid-2010s.

From 2015 to 2018, the pipeline was reversed to flow gas from Jordan to Egypt, powered by imported LNG through Jordan’s Aqaba LNG reception terminal.

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