Signs of life in the Cyprus services sector

Services turnover in key parts of the services sector was up last year according to the latest figures from the Statistical Service, and fared better in the fourth quarter than for the year as a whole.
Administration and support services performed best, with turnover up 7.7% over the year earlier in January-December.
Within this category, the best subsector was travel agencies, which saw turnover rise by
10.6%. Normal office support activities, on the other hand, fell by 8.6%.
Despite rising unemployment, services engaged in employment activities saw turnover up by 7.3%, suggesting that the employment situation was healthier for professionals than others.
Despite a difficult year for tourism, turnover in accommodation and food services rose by 5.6%, with accommodation up 4.2% and food services up 6.6%.
Information and communication services did less well, rising by 4.0%, with disaggregated data showing that there was a decline in broadcasting and publishing activities, whereas computer programming rose by 15.6%.
Professional, scientific and technical activities rose by 1.6% but within this total, turnover for the important legal and accounting services, which have been the driving force of the Cypriot economy in recent years, was up by 4.4%.

Fourth quarter performs well

In the fourth quarter alone, turnover was mainly higher than in for year as a whole.
Turnover in administration and support was up by 11% over the year earlier, while accommodation and food services saw turnover rise by 8.8%.
Information and communications climbed 9.0%.
An increase of 1.0% was recorded in professional, scientific and technical activities.

Fiona Mullen
Sapienta Economics Ltd