The economic sentiment in Cyprus improved slighly in August 2018 as the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI-CypERC) increased by 0.5 points compared with July 2018.
According to a press release by the Economics Research Centre of the University of Cyprus, the increase was driven by stronger confidence in retail trade, industry and among consumers.
The Services Confidence Indicator declined due to firms’ less optimistic views on their past business situation and past demand.
The Retail Trade Confidence Indicator rose as a result of improved assessments of past sales and stock volumes, and upward revisions in sales expectations.
The Construction Confidence Indicator remained unchanged as the improvement in firms’ views on the current level of order books was offset by the downward revision in employment expectations.
The increase in the Industry Confidence Indicator was driven by improved assessments of the level of order books, and upward revisions in production expectations.
The Consumer Confidence Indicator increased as a result of consumers’ improved assessments of all components of the Indicator, i.e. households’ future financial conditions, future economic conditions in Cyprus, future labour market conditions and savings likelihood.
