A NCIIAL MII ROR THIISS WEEK

reached a peak, prices are bow heading lower saw the General Index gallop 1.8% close to levels last seen in June and August the previous year. BOCY gained 2.6% to CYP 1.56, a catalyst for future direction.

The Cyprus pound continued to slide against a rising euro, ending at 0.5794-0.5828 (1.7210), but recovered lost ground against the dollar, ending at 0.4415 or $2.2650. Dealers blamed the moderate decline on seasonal factors rather than any trend, but noted that the decline, now at about 0.8% may continue until May when the tourist season picks up and foreign exchange pours in.

Home prices fell 1.5% in December according to the BuySell Home Price Index that closed at 107.22 with a gain of 7.2% from the start of the year, bringing the average home price to CYP 83,533. The index saw its second biggest decline in April when the Annan Plan was put to a referendum, but the EU accession month of May triggered a new rise that peaked in August and later started to fall.

Registered unemployment on the last day of December 2014 rose by 2,056 or 14% from November and reached 16,600 or 4.8% of the labour force. The increase was mainly in the seasonal sectors of hotels and restaurants, but also in public administration.

The government collected CYP 70 mln by the end of 2004 from the one-off tax amnesty on offer for secret accounts, with the head of the Tax Declaration Office, Theophilos Theophilou saying that 13,000 financial declarations had been submitted, representing some CYP 1.5 bln in untaxed and overseas deposits.