It changes the profile of businesses and the way a business operates in the occupied territories, said the coordinator of the chamber of merchants, Hurem Tulga, noting that foreigners, from third countries, can open a company in the pseudo-state with a 25.000 euro guarantee. In his statements to the Kypris newspaper, he also noted that from January to July of this year, 800 new jobs were created in the occupied territories, 250 of them in the real estate and real estate sector.
Most real estate and consulting businesses founded by foreigners are in Kyrenia and Trikomo, according to Mr. Tulga. "Approximately 70 jobs were opened in the Trikomou region in the first 7 months of this year. and about 50 of them are related to the real estate industry. In the same period, approximately 200 jobs were created in Kyrenia, of which 70 were in real estate." He also mentioned that even in occupied Nicosia, 40 of the 200 new workplaces that have opened in the first seven months of 2023 concern the real estate sector.
Apart from education and tourism, the new area of activity that has kept economic life alive in recent years is the construction sector and real estate sales, the report said with Mr Tulga stating that small traders, especially in the food and beverage sector , are shuttering one after the other, while businesses such as real estate agencies, consultants and real estate agents are opening in their place. The owners of these businesses are largely foreigners.
According to him, the number of foreign employers is increasing day by day and this change is felt much more strongly in Trikomo and Kyrenia. This, he said, makes it even more difficult for people living in the occupied territories and T/c to engage in the real estate sector and open small companies.
The food and beverage sector is having a hard time, he said, criticizing the rampant growth in the real estate sector. “There is no longer any purchasing power in the food and beverage industry. While property consultants are on the rise, the food and beverage industries are set to close. Of the 2.000 food and drink businesses that opened since 2015, 1.000 of them are now closed.”
Businesses in the food and beverage sector that have some relations with "southern Cyprus" - as he put it - and have customers from the free zones, remain open, he added. “Price increases in food and drink are well below inflation. People don't have money to spend on restaurants." The restaurants, he said, are maintained mainly by foreigners and foreigners who come from the KD-controlled areas.
It should not, he continued, be so easy to open an office, a small company by giving a guarantee of 25.000 euros. "The country was completely taken over by foreigners. Everyone you meet becomes a real estate agent on commission. This is not an acceptable situation," he noted.
Source: KYPE
