Gold Magazine December 2013 - January 2014, Issue 33 | Page 6

EDITORIAL

Ring Out The Old,
Ring In The New

W

e all know that in order to progress in our personal and professional lives, we
cannot stay in the same place for too long. Change is necessary but it can often
be difficult to accept and even more difficult to implement.
For the past nine months, Cyprus has been facing up to the need for change
in many areas and it has not been easy. The biggest casualty of the country’s bailout has been
the banking sector – overnight, the second biggest bank in Cyprus ceased to exist and depositors
in Bank of Cyprus lost 47.5% of their money. We have been told by the international lenders
that the island has to change its business model and, over the next three years, the status of the
three main semi-government corporations (Cyta, the EAC and the Cyprus Ports Authority) will
change as privatisation plans are implemented. There are few people in this country who have
not been subject to significant salary reductions and the most unfortunate are those who have
seen their jobs disappear altogether.
No-one doubts that things have to change but knowing this does not make the situation easier
to deal with. There have, fortunately, been a few positive outcomes that offer some encouragement: two Troika reviews full of praise for the Government’s handling of the terms set out in
the Memorandum of Understanding, and the island’s first ratings upgrade in three years (for
long-term sovereign debt to B- from CCC+) by Standard & Poor’s. Cyprus’ European partners
now appear keen to assist in the rebuilding of the economy and there are even encouraging voices
regarding a long-overdue settlement to the Cyprus issue.
There should be no illusions, however, about what awaits us in 2014. It is going to be a difficult 12 months but Cyprus will survive as it has done in the past. As Limassol Mayor Andreas
Christou notes in an interview in this issue (page 16), the place in which he grew up was not
always the big, bustling city that it is today. But it has changed, progressed, developed and it continues to do so. And while it may still be the second-largest city in terms of population, Limassol
has been quite a success story on more than one occasion. For our cover story we have selected
more than 120 outstanding companies in a range of sectors that are based in Limassol.
Coming back to the theme of change, I do not wish to give the impression that we at Gold
are only good at giving advice to others. The changes that have been taking place in the global
media sector over the past decade could not have been ignored by a publication like ours and I
am delighted to inform you of our latest step forward. By the time you read this, the Gold News
portal should be up and running (www.goldnews.com.cy) and you will be able to subscribe online to our Gold News Daily Newsletter. This exciting new venture does not mean an end to
Gold magazine which will continue to p ɽ٥