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Cyprus Posts Record Annual Growth In Q4 2025, Outpacing EU Peers

Record Annual Growth In Q4 2025

According to Eurostat, Cyprus posted the strongest annual GDP growth among EU member states with available data in the fourth quarter of 2025. The economy expanded by 4.5% year on year, underscoring sustained economic momentum. Quarterly, GDP also advanced by 1.4% compared with the previous quarter, reinforcing the picture of steady expansion toward the end of the year.

Moderate Economic Expansion In The Eurozone And The EU

Across the euro area and the wider European Union, growth remained considerably more modest. Seasonally adjusted GDP in the eurozone increased by 0.3% quarter on quarter in Q4 2025, matching the 0.3% rise recorded across the EU. In the preceding quarter, growth reached 0.3% in the eurozone and 0.4% in the EU.

On an annual basis, GDP rose by 1.3% in the eurozone and 1.5% in the EU during Q4 2025, slightly below the 1.4% and 1.6% increases registered in the previous quarter. For the full year 2025, preliminary estimates point to average growth of 1.5% in the eurozone and 1.6% in the EU, based on seasonally and calendar-adjusted data.

Marginal Increase In Employment

Labour market figures show a gradual but positive movement. In the fourth quarter of 2025, employment in both the eurozone and the EU rose by 0.2% compared with the prior quarter. Year-on-year employment gains reached 0.6% in the eurozone and 0.7% across the EU. Projections for the full year indicate overall employment growth of 0.7% in the eurozone and 0.5% in the EU.

Overall, the data highlight Cyprus’s notably faster growth pace relative to the European average, pointing to strong domestic performance even as broader regional expansion continues at a measured rate.

Google Cloud Outage Disrupts Banking And Digital Services Across The UK

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.

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.

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