Economic sentiment weakens in Cyprus in May, says survey

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Economic sentiment in Cyprus weakened in May, a publicly funded survey said on Wednesday, as businesses forecast a worsening financial situation in the coming three months.

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) eased 3.5 points to 104.2, authors of the economics department at the University of Cyprus said. It was still running above the long-term average, it said.

The ESI gauges sentiment among consumers, retail, manufacturing and the construction industry on the outlook for the next three months to a year.

Respondents in the retail sector said they had a more negative outlook on sales for the next three months, impacting turnover, the survey said.

There was a marginally better picture among consumers because fewer respondents had a negative take on expectations, it said.

(Writing By Michele Kambas; editing by John Stonestreet)