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Cyprus Trade Deficit Widens In 2025 Amid Shifting Import And Export Dynamics

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

January 9, 2026

Overview Of Cyprus Trade Imbalance

In a revealing economic report, Cyprus experienced a significant widening of its trade deficit, reaching €7.28 billion during the first eleven months of 2025. The disparity is predominantly due to robust imports outpacing exports, as outlined in provisional data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat).

Fluctuations In Import Activity

Data from November 2025 indicates that total imports of goods totaled €1.04 billion, marking a 10.6% decline when compared with €1.16 billion recorded in November 2024. Imports sourced from other EU member states were valued at €595.70 million, while goods originating from third countries amounted to €442.70 million—down from €657.50 million and €503.90 million respectively in the corresponding period of the previous year.

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Notably, the transfer of economic ownership of vessels was a minor component of November imports, valued at €10.00 million as opposed to €138.70 million in the prior year, underscoring a shift in this niche segment of trade.

Export Growth And Regional Shifts

Despite the overall trade deficit, export activity showed positive momentum. In November 2025, total exports reached €407.10 million, a 6.3% increase over the €382.90 million reported in November 2024. Exports to EU member states were valued at €106.50 million, whereas exports to third countries were classified at €300.60 million—up from €83.10 million and €299.80 million respectively in the previous year.

In the context of vessel transfers, November exports included a €42.60 million transaction, down from €55.50 million a year earlier, indicating sector-specific challenges.

Annual Trade Performance And Sector Analysis

For the period spanning January to November 2025, Cyprus recorded total goods imports of €12.31 billion, reflecting a 9.9% year-on-year increase from €11.20 billion. Simultaneously, total exports for the period rose to €5.03 billion, a 4.5% increase from €4.81 billion in the corresponding period of 2024. Consequently, the overall trade deficit widened to €7.28 billion, compared with €6.39 billion in 2024.

Monthly snapshots, such as the final data for October 2025, reveal that imports dropped 8.9% from €1.27 billion in October 2024 to €1.15 billion in October 2025. Meanwhile, exports of domestically produced products, which include essential items for ships and aircraft, slipped by 16.4% from €296.40 million to €247.70 million. Domestic industrial product exports also saw a decline, falling from €289.00 million to €238.70 million, whereas agricultural exports nudged upward from €6.10 million to €7.80 million. Additionally, exports of foreign products experienced a 4.7% decrease from €150.40 million to €143.30 million.

Sector-Specific Export Highlights

Among the principal exports of domestically produced goods—excluding stores and provisions for ships and aircraft—the leading categories for January to October 2025 were mineral fuels and oils, which stood at €2.00 billion, halloumi cheese at €309.70 million, and pharmaceutical products at €289.70 million. These figures underscore the varied and strategic nature of Cyprus’s export economy.

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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.