Economic sentiment takes a dip

The economic sentiment dropped slightly in February compared with previous month, driven by confidence loss in industry, consumers and to a much lesser degree in retail trade, according to the University of Cyprus Economics Research Centre on Tuesday.

The services confidence indicator picked up as firms appeared more optimistic while retail trade confidence dropped slightly driven by a deterioration in firms’ assessments of past sales, and downward revision of sales expectations.

The construction confidence indicator remained unchanged as firms’ upward revisions in employment expectations were offset by more negative assessments of the current level of their order books.

The industry indicator declined as a result of a deterioration in firms’ views on their stocks of finished products, and downward revisions in production expectations.

The Consumer Confidence Indicator fell as a result of consumers’ less favourable responses regarding their past financial situation, their future financial conditions and future economic conditions in Cyprus.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.