MARFIN Laiki Bank will hike its lending rate by 50 basis points to 5.5 per cent this May, attributing the increase on increased costs of holding on to liquidity in the form of deposits.

The bank’s key deposit rate will remain unchanged at 4.25 per cent, the lender said.

Marfin retail banking director George Markides said the new rate would be effective May 17. The measure does not affect loans taken out before January 1, 2008, nor mortgages taken out after that date and which are connected to the base lending rate of the bank.

CAMPERS may be left disappointed this year as it is unclear yet whether the popular campsite in Polis Chrysochous will open at all.

According to Takis Tsintides, the Chief  Forestry Conservationist, the person who has been managing the site had his contract terminated last year, but is refusing to leave the site

Tsintides said that the up to now the manager had fought all efforts to remove him by using a variety of methods, including blocking the entrance with vehicle.

The forestry chief confirmed that in the last two days, forestry workers had torn down the wooden beach bar as part of efforts to clear the site.

ANDREI Siniko, 27, who had been lost at sea since last Friday – eight days ago – was found dead  yesterday morning in the sea off Chlorakas by a local fisherman.

He leaves behind his wife who is expecting their first child.

The Russian doctor disappeared last Friday, March 12, after going for a swim at a beach near his hotel, the Azia Blue. His clothes were found by the side of the hotel pool where he apparently had a dip after which he headed to the sea. His sandals were left on the beach.

Search and Rescue Coordination Centre conducted an extensive search, using a helicopter and two police boats, as well as divers and men on foot. They had called off the search last Saturday but resumed again last Sunday.

QUESTIONS HAVE been raised over the government’s decision to donate one million dollars to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) for a new medical centre given that the last two clinics pledged by Cyprus were never built.

According to Youli Taki, senior researcher at INDEX Research and Dialogue, two issues are raised by President Demetris Christofias’ announcement made during a visit to the West Bank town of Ramallah earlier this week: “First, have we done the necessary homework on this? Has there been a proper analysis of the needs of the Palestinians? And second, the credibility of the Cyprus Republic is at issue here. Why were the two medical centres pledged in the past not built?”

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) yesterday signed an €80 million loan agreement with the government for the expansion and improvement of expressway road networks.

The EIB has more than doubled its lending to Cyprus last year, from €202 million in 2009 to €460 million in 2010, EIB’s Vice-president, Plutarchos Sakellaris said.

Funding in 2011 will be “significantly higher” than the €214 million five-year average of the last five years, Sakellaris added.

LABOUR Minister Sotiroulla Charalambous yesterday defended the approval of the €23.6 million package of extra benefits to offset the 5.0 per cent VAT hike on food and medicine in the face of criticism from EDEK party leader, Yiannakis Omirou.

“Those who say we’re giving a small amount ought to tell us where to get [the rest] from,” said Charalambous. “There shouldn’t be these efforts made to undermine the measures,” she added.

The €23.6 million package was approved on Thursday by the Cabinet and will include pensioners, the disabled and low earners. The measures will help around 160,000 people.

Omirou described the measures as “a trick and a stunt,” provoking Charalambous to reply: “I’m really sorry but what trick, what stunt?”

PRIMARY school teachers union POED yesterday threatened the Ministry of Education with strike action if after one month the outstanding issues in primary education have not been resolved.

“After repeated consultations on these issues, and taking into consideration the economic conditions in the country, the union’s executive has prioritised the issues and demands, while setting a time frame of one month for a response,” said POED president Loizos Yiassoumas, adding that they did not involve a substantial cost to the state.

THE GREEN Party yesterday strongly condemned an arson attack on the car of the Agios Amvrosios community leader, who is also father of the party’s general secretary, Ioanna Panagiotou.

In an announcement, the Greens said Vyronas Panagiotou’s car had been parked outside his home in Limassol in the early hours of yesterday morning, when his car was set alight by arsonists and completely destroyed.

“It is worth mentioning that this is the third time there has been a malevolent act against the community leader in the past year,” said the party, adding that this was especially worrying and needed to occupy the authorities.