Gold Magazine May - June 2013, Issue 26 | Seite 23

outside looking in

THE VIEW
FROM BUSINESS

RICHARD BUITEMAN

President, Cyprus
Shipping Chamber

CEO of the Mymobibet Group

“Lift Banking Restrictions”
“We were banking
with Hellenic Bank
so we have not been
affected by the haircut.
The only problems
have been caused by
the banking restrictions which are quite
frustrating but we
have other accounts
outside Cyprus so the
difficulties are manageable. The overall
situation has affected
us but far less than it
might have done if
we had been focused
entirely on Cyprus.
That said, we are not
taking any risks right
now until the situation
returns to normal.
I can understand
why the Government
and the Central
Bank imposed
restrictions but
while they wanted
to prevent a serious
flight of capital, they
have simultaneously
halted money that was
coming into Cyprus.

We have a holding
company for our online gaming business
and we have been here
for two years. The
things that attracted
me and my fellowdirectors to Cyprus are
still in place: the high
standard of living,
the climate, a more
relaxed lifestyle and
laid-back way of doing
business. I love Cyprus
and I am not considering moving my business anywhere else but
what has happened
will certainly have
made some people reconsider their plans to
come to Cyprus and
take advantage of what
the country has to offer as an international
business centre. They
may start looking at

Malta or Honduras
instead.
The Government
now needs to do
two very important
things: It must make
sure that there will be
no further change to
the corporate tax rate
– 12.5% is still attractive but any further
increase will make
companies start looking elsewhere – and
it must take steps to
revive the banking sector and give investors
a reason to regain their
confidence in Cyprus.
I think a key issue on
which it should work
is transparency. This is
incredibly important
and if the country
wants to regain investor confidence,
it needs to make

everyone realize that
the present measures
have been taken out
of necessity, they will
soon be lifted and they
won’t happen again.
We all know that
Iceland imposed
similar restrictions
on the movement of
capital and they are
still in place five years
later. The restrictions
in Cyprus are being
described as ‘temporary’ but no-one
knows how long they
will stay in place. The
Government and the
Central Bank need to
take the risk and lift
them, otherwise the
uncertainty surrounding the issue will have
a negative impact on
the country’s efforts to
regain its reputation.”

What has happened will certainly have made
some people reconsider their plans to come
to Cyprus

ANIL KUMAR Chairman, Ransat Group, UK
“Restoring Confidence is the Key”

“The local and international media have made
a disaster out of the
situation and right now
the island has a very bad
name. People think that
it’s an offshore tax haven,
etc., forgetting that it’s an
EU country and held the
Presidency less than 12
months ago.
The first thing that the
Government needs to do

is regain people’s trust
and restore confidence.
This is the key. I met the
President briefly he told
me that he is already
working very hard to
restore confidence. If he
manages this, the country will be fine. Cyprus
hasn’t lost as much as
other countries. Both
Ireland and Greece were
much worse off. Here,

the shipping model is
good and tourism is on
the rise again. Of course,
if you depend entirely
on tourism and outside
money you cannot
consider your economy
to be sustainable. The
Government has to take
initiatives but the private
sector should also take
responsibility too. To this
end it needs to bring in

Capt.
Eugen Adami

a new model. The business community needs
to come together and
create a new structure
to help the country get
back on its feet.
I fail to understand
why Cyprus wants to
depend on Russia. The
Russians need Cyprus
more than Cyprus needs
them. This is the only
country in Europe that

“Shipping remains
in Cyprus and
supports the
Economy”
At the 24th Annual
General Meeting of the
Cyprus Shipping Chamber last month, the President of the Chamber,
Capt. Eugen Adami, emphasised that, irrespective of the effects of the
recent banking problem
on a number of shipping
companies, the shipping industry remains
faithful to Cyprus and its
Registry and continues
to support the island’s
economy. He also stated

that “Only through the
restoration of its economy, image and credibility
will Cyprus be able to
restore its position as
a reliable investment
centre.” He appealed to
all the country’s political
parties to join forces with
the Government and
support all efforts in this
direction, including the
immediate approval of
the Financial Assistance
Package by the House
of Representatives.

JOHAN
LUNDREN

Deputy Chief
Executive,TUI Travel

“Our message is that TUI Travel will continue
to support Cyprus in its reform process and we
look forward to continuing our investments on
the island. Our relationship with Cyprus, which
we consider a very important destination, goes
back almost 50 years. We will need the support
and assistance of various stakeholders – the
Government, the authorities for tourism and our
partners here – to seize the opportunity that we
believe exists and ensure we can continue our
development plan in Cyprus, but also expand
this activity within the European markets.”

The Russians need Cyprus
more than Cyprus needs them
is a friend of Russia so
you should be equal
partners, not a subor-

dinate and a superior.
They have nowhere else
to go.”

TH
THE VIEW FROM THE MEDIA
TIM

WORSTALL | Contributing writer to Forbes on business issues

“Cyprus is going to go through a
great deal of pain economically.
If Cyprus stays in the euro then
there’s no easy way out of that
pain. Just years, possibly a decade

or more, of grinding austerity. When
faced with that, the Iceland alternative seems a much better one: Default, leave the currency, bring back
the Cypriot pound and take the hit

on the exchange rate rather than
the real economy. I