Euro transition

So on Jan 1, 2008, Cyprus transitioned to the Euro, replacing the Cyprus Pound. It was very interesting for a geek like me to watch the transition which was incredibly smooth. There has been dual euro-pound pricing for a year now and merchants will accept both currencies for the next month. Most impressive is all the behind the scenes work that has transitioned all payment systems to a new system (including dual pricing for some time). As far as I have seen, there has have been no hiccups.

I am usually unimpressed by governmental performance in Cyprus but this is a great triumph for the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank. They successfully protected the Cypriot pound (initially through currency restrictions) after the Turkish invasion in 1974, kept it strong for 3 decades, started loosening restrictions in the 1990s, locked with the Euro in the late 1990s and have been harmonizing fiscal and monetary policy since. Central Bank lending rates have been on a decade long decline and as of two days ago the last 50 basis points (4.5% v. 4.0%) vs the ECB went away.

The currency administrators deserve kudos for avoiding a devaluation along the way and transitioning Cyprus into the Euro where the currency's fate is in larger and stronger hands. The current administration also deserves credit for managing inflation and even generating a fiscal surplus this year, something that other candidate members like Lithuania were not able to do and therefore missed the euro convergence date.

Finally, I watched a documentary on Cypriot coinage. As nostalgic as one might be for the 47 year Cypriot pound (it came into being after independence from the UK), it was the shortest-serving of the island's currencies, that have include the British Pound, Ottoman, Roman, Hellenistic, Byzantine, local and other currencies. The record holder is the Byzantine currency which was in use for an astounding 700 years. I will be surprised if the euro lasts that long.

Sorry for the geek-out on this, but i found it to be fascinating.

and Happy New Year!

Online Prayers to Jerusalem

The Cypriots modernizing fast!

NAZARETH, Israel (AP) -- Dressed in his embroidered robes, the Rev. Andreas Elime steps from the altar of St. Gabriel's Church and into the view of the Web cams on the church's marble pillars. His voice fills the empty 250-year-old sanctuary with a Greek Orthodox hymn, while a computer on a nearby pew transmits personal blessings to three Americans thousands of miles away.

Greek orthodox priest Andreas Elime prays near a laptop computer in the Basilica of the Annunciation in the northern Israeli town of Nazareth.

Christian pilgrims have long traveled to the boyhood town of Jesus to seek blessings. Now the Internet can save them the trip.

A service recently launched by Modefine Ltd., a Cyprus company, enables worshippers to log on and watch as a priest utters a prayer for them.

"This takes things to a new level," said James Martin, a Jesuit priest and associate editor of the Roman Catholic magazine America, who has watched religious trends develop on the Internet. Martin said in a telephone interview that the technology also gives believers a new way to carry out an old practice: asking others to pray for them in sacred place

Full link here

Ledra Street Barrier Comes Down

Part of this blog's occasional detour from high finance and high tech to take a peek at the motherland (!)...
What is this? Last Thursday, in the middle of the night, the Greek Cypriots bulldozed the barrier on Ledra Street.

Ledra Street was the old commercial heart of Nicosia until 1974 when the city was divided after the Turkish invasion. After the division, Ledra Street slowly faded in commercial importance as the business sector moved south, outside the Venetian walls into the "new city".

The Ledra Street barrier has been there since the mid 1960s and is the most imposing and visible sign of Nicosia's division. It is a Greek Cypriot army guard post that sees into the UN buffer zone of abandoned, collapsing buildings. On the other side, is the Turkish/Turkish Cypriot guard post.

The barrier was bulldozed in the middle of the night without warning (presumably to preempt any potential opposition).

What does it mean?

Since 2003, there have been some crossing points open across the Green Line that divides Cyprus so this does not really change the ability to move across the city, but none of the current crossing points are in the center of the city.

An open, reunited Ledra Street in the heart of Nicosia would be a much more tangible sign of reunification than the somewhat out-of-the-way checkpoints that are only really accessible by car.

The (Greek) Cypriot government quite correctly insists that the Turkish soldiers leave the area, that the area is swept for mines and that the crumbling buildings are shored up before opening the passageway to pedestrians.

So, for now, this is much more a symbolic move than anything else, but it is nonetheless a positive step forward...

Full article from the International Herald Tribune here

Cyprus ahead of US in press freedom

From Reporters Without Borders & Cyprus-Mail Exact methodology would be interesting to see. North Korea locks up last place - no surprise there!

Full text below. Will convert to link once there is a specific link to it...

Cyprus slips on press freedom index, but remains well ahead of the US By Jean Christou CYPRUS is among a number of western countries that have slipped in the press freedoms rankings compiled annually by the international organisation Reporters Without Borders (RWB), but the island remains significantly higher than it was three years ago.On the 2006 list, Cyprus is ranked 30th out of 168 countries with North Korea in last place. In 2003, Cyprus was in 83rd place and in 2005 it was ranked 25th. But the island still ranks comparatively high and is ahead of France, the United States, Greece, Australia, Italy and Israel.

However, Cyprus still comes in behind the majority of eastern European countries, as well as Bolivia, Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago. The UK ranks 27th.

Sharing first place were Finland, Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands, the four countries deemed to have the most press freedom.

RWB said a number of new countries such as Mauritania and Haiti had gained much ground, while western democracies were slipping.

"Each year new countries in less developed parts of the world move up the Index to positions above some European countries or the United States. This is good news and shows once again that, even though very poor, countries can be very observant of freedom of expression,” said RWB. “Meanwhile, the steady erosion of press freedom in the United States, France and Japan is extremely alarming.”

According to the report, the US has fallen nine places to 53rd position since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index in 2002.

It said relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of “national security” to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his “war on terrorism”.

“The zeal of federal courts, which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the media’s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism,” the report said.

It cited the case of freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf, who was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives, and that of Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for Al-Jazeera, who has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo. It also mentioned Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein who has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year.

France, now in 35th place, has slipped 24 places over five years due to the increase in searches of media offices and journalists’ homes, which RWB said was very worrying for media organisations and trade unions.

“Autumn 2005 was an especially bad time for French journalists, several of whom were physically attacked or threatened during a trade union dispute involving privatisation of the Corsican firm SNCM and during violent demonstrations in French city suburbs in November.

Israel too has dropped from 47th last year to 50th this year. “The Israeli army’s repeated abuses against journalists in the occupied territories and the US army’s responsibility in the death of several reporters during the war in Iraq constitute unacceptable behaviour by two nations that never stop stressing their commitment to freedom of expression,” RWB said.