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Сyprus Inflation Hits 1.7% As Euro Area Inflation Cools

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

February 5, 2026

Inflation Snapshot: Divergent Trends Across Regions

Recent data from Eurostat has highlighted contrasting inflation trends in Europe. In January 2026, Cyprus experienced a significant rise in inflation to 1.7% from 0.1% in December, while the broader euro area saw a slowdown, with inflation dropping from 2% to 1.7%.

Cyprus Economic Indicators

In January 2025, Cyprus recorded an inflation rate of 2.9%, according to the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP). This uptick underscores the tightening price pressures in the local economy. Additionally, monthly inflation in Cyprus increased by 0.2% in January, reflecting an accelerating trend that may warrant closer scrutiny from policymakers.

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Underlying Drivers And Core Inflation Measures

By category, food, alcohol, and tobacco prices rose by 2.7%, slightly higher than the previous 2.5%, while non-energy industrial goods increased by 0.4%, broadly in line with December levels. Energy prices, however, fell sharply by 4.1% year on year, compared with a 1.9% decline a month earlier. This drop in energy costs contributed to a monthly decrease of 0.5% in overall euro area inflation. Excluding energy, inflation in the euro area stood at 2.3%. Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco, eased further to 2.2%.

Comparative Dynamics Across The Eurozone

Inflation rates continued to vary significantly among euro area member states. Slovakia recorded the highest annual rate at 4.2%, followed by Croatia at 3.6% and Lithuania at 2.8%. Greece also posted 2.8%, while Spain reached 2.5%. Belgium reported 1.4%, the Netherlands 2.2%, and Austria 2%. Germany stood at 2.1%, whereas France remained notably lower at 0.4%. Italy and Finland each recorded 1%, while Luxembourg and Portugal posted 1.6% and 1.9%, respectively.

Market Implications And Future Outlook

The latest figures highlight uneven inflation pressures across the euro area. For Cyprus, the recent uptick suggests a return of price growth after a very low December reading, while the broader euro area trend reflects easing pressures largely driven by falling energy costs. Economists and policymakers are expected to monitor these developments closely in the coming months as they assess the direction of monetary policy.

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Google Cloud Outage Disrupts Banking And Digital Services Across The UK

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

October 20, 2026

A power outage at a Google Cloud data centre near London disrupted services across the UK on Tuesday, affecting banks, businesses and other digital platforms. Google said the incident was caused by a power event at its cloud operations, with full recovery expected by around 1300 GMT.

The disruption began at 0608 GMT and affected Google Cloud services in the europe-west2 region, which is hosted in London. In an initial update, the company reported elevated error rates and intermittent network failures across multiple services as engineers worked to restore operations.

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Banking Services Hit By The Disruption

Revolut was among the most visibly affected companies, with customers reporting problems with ATM withdrawals, bank transfers and card top-ups. A source close to the matter linked the issues to the Google Cloud outage.

Traditional banks also reported disruptions. Lloyds said some customers were experiencing problems with its app and online banking, while HSBC confirmed difficulties accessing its services. HSBC added that it was monitoring the situation and noted that other organisations were affected as well.

Disruption Spreads Beyond Finance

Downdetector, which tracks online service disruptions, recorded hundreds of reports involving other businesses, including property website Rightmove and the Royal Mail postal service. The reports suggested that the outage was affecting multiple parts of the UK’s digital economy.

The incident highlights the risks facing businesses that depend on shared cloud infrastructure. Even a temporary failure at a single provider can disrupt services across several sectors, from banking and payments to logistics and consumer platforms.

Companies Reassure Customers

Revolut said it had been working to resolve the issue since it was identified and apologised to affected customers. The company also confirmed that customers’ money and data remained safe.

As cloud platforms underpin an increasing share of digital commerce, the outage illustrates how disruptions to critical infrastructure can spread far beyond the provider itself, affecting businesses and customers across the economy.