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Economic sentiment rises in August but uncertainty remains

27/08/2021 09:11

Economic Sentiment in Cyprus marked a 3-point increase in August mainly due to the improvement in the service sector, but uncertainty remains, fuelled by the Covid pandemic, University of Cyprus’ Economic Research Centre (ERC) said on Thursday.

According to the ERC, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) in August rose by 3 units reaching 108.6 from 105.6 in July.

“The increase in the ESI-CypERC resulted from stronger business confidence in services and, to a smaller degree, from confidence gains in retail trade and among consumers,” ERC said.

In Services, the increase in the Confidence Indicator was driven by improved assessments of past performance (business situation and demand), and upward revisions in demand expectations, while the increase in the Retail Trade Confidence Indicator was mainly due to more favourable assessments of past sales, despite downward revisions in sales expectations, ERC added.

Downward revisions in employment expectations were offset by improved assessments of order book levels, leaving the Construction Confidence Indicator unchanged from July’s level.

Furthermore, according to the ERC, the Industry Confidence Indicator remained unchanged at the level registered in July, as the downward revisions in production expectations were offset by improvements in recent performance, which resulted from more favourable assessments of stock levels.

The Consumer Confidence Indicator registered a small increase owing to the improvements in the forward-looking components of the Indicator.

“Consumers’ expectations about their financial conditions and the economic condition in Cyprus were revised upwards.  Moreover, in August, consumers’ intentions to make major purchases strengthened,” the ERC said.

In any case, the ERC points out that despite the rise in the overall ESI, uncertainty remains as it rose among businesses and retail trade, manufacturing, constructions, as well as among the consumers, while the ESI among the services sector declined.