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Cyprus Trade Deficit Widens Amid Sharp Export Surge

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

February 9, 2026

December Trade Performance

Cyprus closed 2025 with an expanded trade deficit. While a significant increase in exports during December bolstered the country’s market stance, a marked decline in imports overshadowed these gains. According to data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat), total imports of goods in December 2025 fell to €1.20 billion from €1.39 billion in December 2024, representing a decrease of 13.1%. Notably, imports from other EU member states dropped to €789.30 million, and those from third countries slid to €415.10 million, from €703.40 million and €682.70 million respectively.

Significant Export Growth

Exports, however, recorded notable growth. Total export value reached €490.5 million in December 2025, up from €375.95 million in December 2024, an increase of 30.5%. Shipments to EU countries amounted to €182.7 million, while exports to third countries rose to €307.8 million from €97.0 million and €279.0 million respectively. A key factor behind the increase was the transfer of economic ownership of vessels, which climbed to €130.1 million compared with €51.4 million in the previous December.

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Year-to-Date Dynamics

Full-year data for 2025 show a mixed overall picture. Total imports for the January–December period rose to €13.55 billion from €12.58 billion in 2024, marking a 7.7% year-on-year increase. Exports reached €5.55 billion, up 7.0% from €5.19 billion the year before. As a result, the overall trade deficit widened to €8.00 billion compared with €7.40 billion in 2024.

Monthly Insights And Sectoral Highlights

Figures for November 2025 support the same trend. Total imports for the month declined to €1.04 billion from €1.16 billion a year earlier, a drop of 10.1%. In contrast, exports of domestically produced goods, including supplies for ships and aircraft, increased to €283.9 million from €244.5 million, a rise of 16.1%. Industrial product exports reached €276.6 million compared with €237.1 million, while agricultural exports edged slightly lower to €6.2 million from €6.4 million. Exports of foreign products also recorded modest gains.

Key Export Sectors

The leading domestic export categories between January and November 2025 were mineral fuels and oils at €2.19 billion, halloumi cheese at €332.2 million, and pharmaceutical products at €318.0 million. It is worth noting that the mineral fuels and oils category largely reflects goods that were imported, processed, and subsequently re-exported, which is an important factor in interpreting Cyprus’ trade structure.

Revisions And Provisional Data

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Google Cloud Outage Disrupts Banking And Digital Services Across The UK

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

October 20, 2026

A power outage at a Google Cloud data centre near London disrupted services across the UK on Tuesday, affecting banks, businesses and other digital platforms. Google said the incident was caused by a power event at its cloud operations, with full recovery expected by around 1300 GMT.

The disruption began at 0608 GMT and affected Google Cloud services in the europe-west2 region, which is hosted in London. In an initial update, the company reported elevated error rates and intermittent network failures across multiple services as engineers worked to restore operations.

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Banking Services Hit By The Disruption

Revolut was among the most visibly affected companies, with customers reporting problems with ATM withdrawals, bank transfers and card top-ups. A source close to the matter linked the issues to the Google Cloud outage.

Traditional banks also reported disruptions. Lloyds said some customers were experiencing problems with its app and online banking, while HSBC confirmed difficulties accessing its services. HSBC added that it was monitoring the situation and noted that other organisations were affected as well.

Disruption Spreads Beyond Finance

Downdetector, which tracks online service disruptions, recorded hundreds of reports involving other businesses, including property website Rightmove and the Royal Mail postal service. The reports suggested that the outage was affecting multiple parts of the UK’s digital economy.

The incident highlights the risks facing businesses that depend on shared cloud infrastructure. Even a temporary failure at a single provider can disrupt services across several sectors, from banking and payments to logistics and consumer platforms.

Companies Reassure Customers

Revolut said it had been working to resolve the issue since it was identified and apologised to affected customers. The company also confirmed that customers’ money and data remained safe.

As cloud platforms underpin an increasing share of digital commerce, the outage illustrates how disruptions to critical infrastructure can spread far beyond the provider itself, affecting businesses and customers across the economy.