The Mediterranean island is in the middle of a stock-market frenzy after a year in which the burgeoning four-year-old exchange made gains of 700 per cent and is now worth almost three times as much as the nation’s gross domestic product.

Everyone, it sems, knows someone who has become a millionaire overnight. Education inspector Avram Sebbos said: “We have sent a circular to all schools, primary and secondary. We have to stop this before it gets out of hand.”

One disgruntled parent in the capital, Nicosia, said: “The head at my daughter’s school said he would be investing in her education - I didn’t think he meant this.”