Three out of ten households report a decrease in income

Three out of ten households report a decrease in income, according to the data of the major market survey, which has been conducted for the All Cyprus Consumers & Quality of Life Association by the company CMRC CYPRONETWORK LTD of the CYPRONETWORK group.

During the presentation of the survey results on Wednesday in Nicosia, the Executive Chairman of CMRC CYPRONETWORK LTD, Christos Michaelidis, said that almost four out of ten households expect their financial situation to be worse in the next ten months, while one in two expect that the course of Cyprus in the next six months will be downward.

According to Mr. Michaelidis, citing the conclusions of the research, three out of ten households declare a decrease in their incomes, six out of ten no differentiation and one out of ten an increase in their incomes.

Compared to 2021, he said that fewer households report a decrease, to note that respectively four out of ten households have a decrease in their purchases and two out of ten have an increase.

He also added that a total of six out of ten households describe their financial situation as difficult or very difficult, while he noted that as shown by the results of the survey "people are making less trips to save fuel".

In addition, nine out of ten citizens talk about price increases and an increase in electricity, while in relation to household loans "four out of ten households have loans and three out of ten consider that their family is over-indebted".

In addition, the results state that "two in ten borrowers believe they will not be able to meet their obligations, almost four in ten households expect their financial situation to be worse in the next ten months, and only one in seven expect it to be better."

According to Cypriots, the two most worrying issues in Cyprus today are the increases in the prices of goods and services and the increases in energy prices (68% and 60% respectively).

In a second grouping and a clearly lower percentage are found corruption (35%), poverty and social inequality (31%), income reduction (24%) and crime and violence (21%).

On the contrary, unemployment is recorded at 17%, high taxation at 13%, insecurity from the Russia/Ukraine war at 10%, the coronavirus pandemic and climate change at 8% and 7%, respectively.

In 2023, the percentage of households facing a survival problem is limited to just 1%, a percentage clearly reduced compared to 2021 (12%). On the other hand, those who get by on their household income remain stable at around 21%, with a significant increase noted by those who reported that they are barely getting by on their household income (44% in 2023, compared to 30% in 2021).

Those who reported that they have difficulty either a little or a lot with their income remain rather stable at 19% and 15%, respectively.

In addition, according to the survey, eight out of ten consumers reported in 2023 that their miscellaneous expenses have increased (81%), while six out of ten have reduced both their entertainment and vacation expenses compared to the past (58% and 60% respectively).

An equally significant proportion of consumers have reported that they have reduced spending on clothing and footwear, as well as spending on branded supermarket consumer goods.

Also noteworthy are the findings in relation to important purchases such as a house, furniture, electrical appliances or a car, technology items or even for home renovation where the vast majority of consumers answered negatively, that is to say they will not make this type of expenditure, a percentage that varies between 67% and 80%.

Continued increases in basic products

The President of the All Cyprus Consumers & Quality of Life Association, Dr. Loukas Aristodemou, said that "product price increases are continuous in some basic products, such as for example sugar, the price of which is constantly increasing."

According to Dr. Aristodemou "there have been increases in the last two years, which are justified or not", to note that "in Cyprus the state unfortunately does not investigate the tariffs of importers and suppliers and therefore importers have the opportunity to increase the prices to retailers and retailers consequently raise their prices'.

"Prices have remained high and have not subsided, even though international freight rates have decreased - what they used to argue - fuel prices have decreased and the price of electricity has not increased. And yet we did not notice reductions in either services or products," he noted.

Source: KYPE