Cyprus salad the cheapest choice this Christmas

Forget the souvla this Christmas, if you want to keep to a low budget then you had better stick to a good old fashioned tomato and cucumber salad.

Statistics published by the Consumer Protection Department of the Ministry of Commerce show that the prices of cucumbers on December 1 were 56% lower than a year earlier, while the prices of tomatoes were 74% lower.

At the top end of price increases were artichokes, up by 64% and bananas, up by 56%.

However, the price of certain meats that will be popular this Christmas had also risen higher than the average consumer price inflation rate in the same period.

For example, pork on the bone was 5% higher than a year ago, while lamb and tender lamb were up 5% and 3% respectively.

Chicken, on the other hand, was only up 1% on the previous year.

The Consumer Protection Department said that there was no obvious reason why some prices had gone up and some down. It was a matter of demand and supply and seasonality, they said.