UCy: CCLEI upward trend continued in December

The annual growth rate of a leading indicator used to predict the future direction of economic movements in Cyprus, continued on an upward trend for the seventh consecutive month in December, as a result of an increase in ‘the majority’ of economic indicators composing the CCLEI, the University of Cyprus said in a monthly report.

The Cyprus Composite Leading Economic Index, estimated by the university’s Economics Research Centre (CypERC), recorded a year-over-year increase of 2.3% in December, following the year-over-year increases of 2.2% and 2.0% in November and October, 2024, respectively.

This is the first time that the index met or exceeded the 2% annual growth rate marker, having previously recorded an annual growth rate of more than 1% three months in a row,.

According to the university’s Economics Research Centre, the year-on-year improvement in the economic sentiment indicator (ESI), combined with an increase in tourist arrivals, the strengthening of Cypriots’ credit card transactions, the expansion of retail sales volume, and the increase in the adjusted (in terms of temperatures) volume of electricity production, contributed to the upward trend of the Index in December.

In contrast, the worsening of the euro-area ESI, the increase in Brent crude oil prices in December compared to December 2023, and the year-over-year decline in property sales contracts restrained the further rise in the CCLEI in December 2024.