Price index

Cyprus' Harmonized Consumer Price Index (HCPI) rose by 1.6% in October 2024 compared to the same month in 2023, according to data from the Statistical Service of Cyprus.

On a monthly basis, the index recorded a slight decline of 0.2% from September 2024. 

Referring to the cost-of-living crisis, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the problem of high prices is an "ongoing battle" and that things will gradually improve.

Government officials are awaiting Friday's announcement of July inflation figures by the independent statistics authority ELSTAT with some trepidation. 

Erhan Çetinkaya, the head of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), has dismissed criticism leveled at the authority over its inflation calculations.

Food and services were the main culprits for the increase in the consumer price index, according to Eurostat

Last month the price of olive oil in Cyprus surged by 61.7% compared to March 2023, per the Cyprus Consumers Association. Additionally, passenger transport by bus and coach witnessed a notable increase of 16.5%, according to data compiled in a table by the association, analyzing the consumer price index.

Sales prices of residential property increased last year at an average annual rate of 13.4% throughout the country, according to data from the Bank of Greece. This is even steeper than 2022, when they had increased by 11.9%.

Eurostat's provisional data on the harmonized consumer price index on Monday showed a rebound in inflation in Greece in July instead of a further de-escalation. Such data are worrying both for their effects on family budgets and overall for the course of the economy's development.

April ended with the Greek economy registering the fourth lowest inflation in the eurozone, an encouraging fact, but not entirely reassuring.

The industrial imports price index recorded a decrease in February 2023 - for the first time since January 2021 - on an annual basis, while a decline was also recorded on a monthly basis.

This element is essentially an indication of price de-escalation, mainly in energy and to a lesser degree in some primary and secondary materials, such as basic metals and paper.