Cyprus retail trade falls in April by 5.5%

Retail sales fared poorly in April, a month in which tourism arrivals were also down sharply as flights were disrupted by volcanic ash.
The turnover volume index of retail trade for April 2010 dropped by 5.5% compared with April 2009 and 5.7% over the previous month.
The turnover value index for April fell by 3.3% over the year earlier.
For the period January-April 2010 the volume index recorded a decrease of 1.2% compared with the corresponding period of 2009.
The value index in January-April 2010 rose by 0.9%.
According to provisional estimates for May 2010 the volume index rose by 0.3% over May 2010.
In the first five months, the volume index is provisionally estimated to have decreased by 0.9% compared with the corresponding period of 2009, while the value index is provisionally estimated to have increased by 0.9%.