Cyprus August retail sales up 2.5% y/y

The deadly armaments blast that knocked out the main power station on July 11th and led to four weeks of power cuts took its toll on the retail sector in July, with volumes down 4.2% compared with July 2010.
However, volumes recovered in August, with sales volumes increasing by 2.5% compared with August 2010, according to preliminary data.
In the weeks after the blast retailers switched off their lights in order to conserve energy, with the result that many shops looked like they were closed.
Meanwhile, food retailers had to scrabble to find generators so that they could keep food cool continuously.
Food products appear to have performed particularly well in August, with overall food products up by 11.4% over the year earlier.
Sales for the year as a whole have fluctuate, so that for the period January-August 2011, the volume index is provisionally estimated to have increased by only 0.2% compared with the corresponding period of 2010.
The value index in the same period is provisionally estimated to have risen by 4.7%.
Fiona Mullen
www.sapientaeconomics.com