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Cyprus Achieves Fiscal Surplus Of €939.2 Million In 2025

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

March 4, 2026

Fiscal Overview And Economic Implications

Cyprus recorded a fiscal surplus of €939.2 million in 2025, according to preliminary data from the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat). The surplus corresponds to 2.6% of GDP, compared with 4.1% or €1.44 billion recorded in 2024. Although the surplus narrowed compared with the previous year, the budget balance remained positive as government revenue continued to expand.

Robust Revenue Growth Drives Fiscal Performance

Total government revenue increased by €864.8 million to €15.62 billion, representing a 5.9% rise compared with 2024. Key contributors included income and wealth taxes, which increased by 9.0% to €4.15 billion. Social contributions also rose significantly, adding €358.7 million and reaching €4.88 billion.

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Sectoral Contributions And Shifts In Tax Revenues

Property income recorded one of the largest increases, rising by 30.4% to €160.3 million. Taxes on production and imports remained broadly stable at €4.70 billion. Within this category, net VAT revenue declined slightly by 1.7%, falling from €3.17 billion to €3.12 billion.

Dynamic Revenue Streams And Investments

Revenue from the sale of goods and services increased by 17.9% to €1.05 billion. Current transfers also grew by 7.1%, reaching €421.1 million. At the same time, capital transfers declined by 22.0%, falling to €262.9 million from €337.0 million in the previous year.

Escalated Government Expenditures

Total government expenditure rose by 10.3% to €14.68 billion. Employee compensation, including civil servant pensions and social contributions, increased by 6.5% to €4.13 billion. Social benefits rose by 7.2%, reaching €5.69 billion compared with €5.30 billion in 2024. Intermediate consumption increased by 9.3% to €1.60 billion, while current transfers rose by €77.8 million to €920.2 million.

Accelerated Capital Investments Amid Cautious Debt Management

Capital spending recorded a notable increase of 46.6%, reaching €1.77 billion. Gross capital formation rose by 25.1% to €1.21 billion, while other capital expenditure more than doubled, increasing from €240.4 million to €559.9 million. Interest payments on government debt declined by 6.1% to €418.7 million, and subsidy allocations fell by 11.4% to €151.8 million.

Data Reporting Challenges And Forward Outlook

Cystat noted that estimates were used for certain government sectors, particularly local authorities, due to incomplete data submissions. These reporting gaps highlight the importance of improving data collection across public administration as fiscal reporting continues to evolve.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

by News Editor

August 24, 2026

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

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Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.