CYPRUS: Economic sentiment picks up in April, reaches January level

Economic sentiment in Cyprus picked up in April as the monthly Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI-CypERC) increased by 1.3 points compared with March, reaching 116.1, same as in January, and driven by confidence improvements in services, construction and retail trade.

 
The benchmark indicator, compiled by the Economics Research Centre University of Cyprus, saw an increase in three sectors and a retraction in two.
The Services Confidence Indicator rose as a result of markedly more optimistic views expressed by firms regarding their business situation and demand over the past three months.
The Retail Trade Confidence Indicator increased marginally as the positive effect of stronger sales expectations was almost offset by adverse assessments of the volume of recent sales and stocks.
The Construction Confidence Indicator rose due to firms’ less pessimistic views on the current level of order books and upward revisions of future employment plans.
On the negative side, the Industry Confidence Indicator dropped as a result of the deterioration in firms’ assessments of current orders and the downward revision of production expectations.
And the Consumer Confidence Indicator declined as a result of more pessimistic views on future savings and less optimistic responses regarding the labour market conditions.
The same indicator had seen a 0.6 point increase in March from February, driven by confidence improvements in industry and among consumers. This followed a setback of 1.9 points in February compared with January due mainly to the worsening of business confidence in services and retail trade, and the weakening of consumer confidence.