Annual price growth reaches 3.5% in August, driven by oil products and electricity, as cost-of-living pressures persist since Middle East conflict began
Consumer prices in Cyprus rose for a fifth consecutive month in August, according to the island’s Consumer Protection Service, which pointed to sharp increases in fuel and utility costs as the driving force behind renewed inflationary pressure.
The service’s monthly Basic Consumer Goods Observatory, which tracks the average weighted price of 250 everyday products across 400 retail outlets nationwide, found that annual inflation climbed to 3.5% in August, up from 2.9% in July, 3.1% in June, 2.5% in May and 2.8% in April. The upward trend, now in its fifth month since the outbreak of war in the Middle East, was attributed mainly to a 20.3% jump in petroleum product prices and a 6% rise in electricity and water costs.
Of the 45 product categories monitored, 19 recorded price increases compared with the previous month, 25 recorded decreases and one remained unchanged. But the broader trend was clear when measured year-on-year: 40 of the 45 categories were more expensive than in August 2025.
Among the categories showing the sharpest monthly rises were cooking stock, up 3.7% (and 11.3% higher than a year earlier); fresh vegetables and greens, up 3.2%; barbecue charcoal, up 2.9%; sugar, up 1.9%; bulgur wheat, up 1.4%; and cheese, also up 1.4%.
The steepest monthly falls were recorded in frozen molluscs and shellfish, down 11.9%, though still 2% higher than a year earlier; fresh fish and molluscs, down 4.9%; laundry detergents, down 4.8%; breaded and pre-cooked frozen fish, down 3.9%; and frozen fish, down 2.9%.
The Consumer Protection Service stressed that the price observatory was intended purely to inform consumers and did not constitute advice, nor could it substitute for shoppers’ own market research based on their individual needs and preferences. It noted that some of the products tracked varied in quality in ways the data could not capture, and urged consumers to carry out their own research before making purchasing decisions.
Full details of the observatory are available on the service’s website, and the authority encouraged consumers to make use of its online platform, www.e-kalathi.gov.cy, and accompanying mobile app to help make more informed and cost-effective purchasing choices.
