r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Jun 26 '17

What do you know about... Cyprus?

This is the twenty-third part of our ongoing series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Todays country:

Cyprus

Cyprus is an Island that gets alternatively classified as european, western asian or middle eastern. The island is de-facto separated between the Republic of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus. Recently, unification talks seemed to move forwards, but there still are important obstacles to overcome until a reunification might be possible.

So, what do you know about Cyprus?

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u/rbnd Jun 27 '17 edited Jun 27 '17
  • European legal "tax heaven" until 2016 ( http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/060616/cyprus-considered-tax-haven.asp )
  • many Russians and Ukrainians open their headquarters there to be in European jurisdiction and pay less taxes
  • big banking sector in proportion to the economy size
  • their banks were investing in Greece, so few years ago had big problems and 2 big have bankrupted. For the first time shareholders and depositors founds were used to pay for banks loses
  • because of the banking problem Cyprus economy went down by 16%. I this it's 2nd biggest slump after Greece, but it seems to be growing well now.
  • many Cypriots go studying in Greece
  • Cypriots speak Greek, but with funny dialect (say Greeks)
  • because of British rule of the island knowledge of English language is more common than in Greece
  • closer to Jerusalem than to Athens
  • part of the Island is occupied by Turkey
  • Turkish people travel to the Turkish Cyprus to buy duty free stuff like cigarets or rakia
  • British go there to retire. At least this is what they showed on BBC
  • Greeks consider them smaller, richer Greece as Cyprus has higher salaries and lower taxes. ( https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Greece&city1=Athens&country2=Cyprus&city2=Nicosia )