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Economic Sentiment improves in April

24/04/2019 16:41

Economic sentiment in Cyprus improved in April 2019 as the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI-CypERC) increased by 2.4 points compared with March 2019, the Economics Research Centre of the University of Cyprus said on Wednesday.
 
“The increase was driven by stronger business confidence in services and, to a smaller degree, confidence improvements in industry among consumers”, said the ERC.
 
According to the survey, “the Services Confidence Indicator increased as a result of firms’ more positive assessments of past business situation and past demand as well as upward revisions in demand expectations”.
 
The Retail Trade Confidence Indicator “did not change from the marginally positive level registered in March, as firms’ views on all three components of the Indicator (past sales, volume of stocks, expected sales) remained broadly unchanged”, the ERC added.
 
The survey recorded a marginal decrease in the Construction Confidence Indicator driven by downward revisions in firms’ employment plans.
 
Moreover the Industry Confidence Indicator increased due to improvements in firms’ assessments of the current level of order books and upward revisions in production expectations, whereas the Consumer Confidence Indicator increased only marginally, as more favorable assessments about household-specific aspects (financial situation, intentions for major purchases) were almost offset by more pessimistic views on the future general economic conditions in Cyprus.