22.09.2022
The Cyprus Composite Leading Economic Index (CCLEI) fell 3.0% year-on-year in August this year for the third month in a row, due to growing uncertainty.
A press release from the Center for Economic Research at the University of Cyprus says the drop in August follows a year-on-year decline of 2.6% in July and 1.7% in June 2022, based on the latest and revised data.
“Growing uncertainty related to the ongoing challenges of the global economy (ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, rising inflation, restrictive monetary policy, economic slowdown in China) is reflected in the negative year-on-year growth of CCLEI in August 2022,” he said.
In particular, the Economic Sentiment Indicators (ESI) showed a drop in confidence in the euro area and Cyprus in August 2022 compared to August 2021, with sentiment weakening mainly in the consumption sector in the euro area and in the services sector in Cyprus. .
At the same time, the UCy Center for Economic Research said that “the international price of Brent crude oil is also contributing to the negative annual growth rate of CCLEI, which continued to be high in August 2022 due to international political and economic developments.”
However, it notes that “the acceleration of most of the internal components of the CCLEI in a highly uncertain economic environment helps contain the fall of the CCLEI and therefore strengthen the Cypriot economy.”
In particular, an acceleration in the growth rate of the total number of real estate purchase contracts, the cost of credit card transactions, temperature-adjusted electricity generation, as well as the volume of retail sales and the influx of tourists (according to preliminary data) is expected to strengthen the Cypriot economy in the short term. perspective.
