The economic sentiment in Cyprus improved by 2.4 points in April mainly owing to the strengthened business confidence in the services sector, the University of Cyprus’ Economic Research Centre (ERC) has said.
The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) in April climbed to 112.7 points from 110.3 in the previous month following two consecutive months of deterioration.
“The increase was driven by stronger business confidence in services and, to a smaller degree, confidence improvements in industry and among consumers,” the ERC said.
The Services Confidence Indicator increased as a result of firms’ more positive assessments of past business situation and past demand, as well as upward revisions in demand expectations
According to the ERC, the Retail Trade Confidence Indicator did not change from the marginally positive level registered in March as firms’ views on all three components of the Indicator (i.e. past sales, volume of stocks, expected sales) remained broadly unchanged.
The marginal decrease in the Construction Confidence Indicator was driven by downward revisions in firms’ employment plan, the ERC said.
In the sector of Industry, the confidence indicator increased due to improvements in firms’ assessments of the current level of order books, and upward revisions in production expectations.
The Consumer Confidence Indicator increased only marginally, as more favourable assessments about household-specific aspects (financial situation, intentions for major purchases) were almost offset by more pessimistic views on the future general economic conditions in Cyprus, the ERC added.
(Cyprus News Agency)
