CYPRUS: Economic sentiment up in March, says UCy

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI-CypERC) increased by 0.6 points in March compared to February 2017, driven by confidence improvements in industry and among consumers.

 
The Economics Research Centre of the University of Cyprus said in its monthly survey that the Services Confidence Indicator remained unchanged as the upward revisions of turnover expectations were offset by the less optimistic views expressed by firms regarding their recent business situation and demand.
The Retail Trade Confidence Indicator also remained unchanged as the deterioration in firms’ assessments concerning past sales were offset by improved sales expectations.
On the other hand, the Construction Confidence Indicator deteriorated due to firms’ more pessimistic views on the current level of order books and less favourable assessments of their future employment plans.
The Industry Confidence Indicator rose mainly as a result of the significant improvement in firms’ assessments of current orders and the upward revision of production expectations, while the Consumer Confidence Indicator increased as a result of more optimistic responses regarding the labour market conditions and less pessimistic views on future savings.