Retail sales in Cyprus rose by 2.9% year-on-year in April 2026, easing from a 5.8% increase in March. This was the weakest growth in retail activity since January 2025, largely reflecting slower gains in several key categories: food, beverages, and tobacco in non-specialized stores (2.4% vs 4.5% in March); information and communication equipment (17.7% vs 35.3%); other household equipment (11.7% vs 12.8%); and pharmaceuticals, orthopedic goods, and cosmetics (1.8% vs 8.4%).
At the same time, sales of automotive fuel swung into decline (-3.6% vs +9.8%), while non-store retail sales remained in negative territory (-3.4% vs -0.2%). By contrast, turnover returned to growth in clothing and footwear (3.8% vs -0.8%), and contractions eased in food, beverages, and tobacco sold in specialized stores (-3.3% vs -4.9%), as well as in flowers, plants, watches, jewelry, optical goods, and second-hand goods (-8.2% vs -9.7%).
Over the first four months of 2026, retail sales were up 5.5% compared with the same period a year earlier.
