Economic sentiment in Cyprus improved in December 2016 as the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI-CypERC) increased by 3.1 points compared to November 2016 as a result of the pickup of business confidence in services, retail trade and construction.

The Services Confidence Indicator rose due to firms’ more positive assessments of past business situation as well as because of more optimistic views regarding firms’ turnover over the next three months.

The Retail Trade Confidence Indicator increased mainly as a result of more favourable views regarding firms’ past sales.

The Construction Confidence Indicator improved due to less pessimistic assessments of the current level of order books.

The decrease in the Industry Confidence Indicator was driven by the deterioration of firms’ views of the level of their current stock of finished products.

The Consumer Confidence Indicator remained unchanged. The more optimistic views on future economic conditions in Cyprus and future labour market conditions, as well as improved savings expectations, were offset by the deterioration of consumers’ assessments of their future financial situation.

Source: InCyprus