Breaking news

Cyprus Consumer Spending Slows Amid Shifting Energy and Housing Expenditures

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

November 26, 2025

Recent Eurostat data reveal that nearly 18% of Cypriot household expenditures are allocated to housing, water, electricity, and fuels. This slowdown in consumer spending growth contrasts sharply with trends across the European Union, where spending is accelerating. Adjusted for inflation, Cypriot household expenditures increased by 1.5% compared to a modest 0.3% rise in 2023, while Eurozone figures improved from 0.5% to 1.3% in the same period.

Comparative Analysis Across the European Union

Despite a marked slowdown in Cyprus—from an annual growth rate of 6.1% in 2023 to 3.6% in 2024—the nation still ranks fourth in household spending relative to GDP at 61.6%, trailing only Greece (75.3%), Croatia (70.5%), and Portugal (66%). Across the EU, the most significant spending increases were recorded in Malta (+8.8%), Romania (+5.6%), and Hungary (+5.3%), whereas Finland experienced a slight contraction of 0.5% in 2024.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

Breakdown Of Expenditure Categories

European households continue to dedicate the largest share of their budgets to housing, utilities, natural gas, and other fuels. Countries such as the Czech Republic (32.1%), Finland (29.6%), and Denmark (28.5%) lead in this category, while Croatia (14.4%), Malta (15.1%), and Latvia (15.8%) report significantly lower proportions. In Cyprus the share for these critical expenses is slightly higher at 17.8%, with Greece following at 21.8%.

Food and nonalcoholic beverages also command substantial household budgets. Romania tops this segment with 23.1% of expenditures, followed closely by Bulgaria and Latvia (both at 20.1%), and Slovakia (19.7%). On the lower end, Luxembourg (9.3%), Ireland (9.8%), and Austria (10.2%) report the smallest proportions, while Cyprus’ allocation stands at 12.5%.

Meanwhile, transportation expenses vary considerably. Slovenia (17.0%), Lithuania (15.2%), and Germany (14.2%) represent the greater extents of spending, while Slovakia (5.8%), Croatia (8.2%), and the Czech Republic (8.5%) show lower shares.

Economic Recovery And Shifts In Consumer Behavior

The broader European picture demonstrates the lingering impact of recovery since 2022. While categories such as dining and accommodation, along with transportation, continued to grow in 2024 following robust gains in previous years, the pace has moderated. Conversely, spending on clothing, footwear, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and other substances has experienced a downward adjustment.

In aggregate, household spending in the EU reached 51.8% of GDP in 2024—a minor decline from 51.9% in 2023—and is 2.2 percentage points lower than the 54.1% recorded in 2014. These shifts signal recalibration in consumer priorities as economies transition through post-pandemic recovery phases.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

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.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

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.