Stats Office: Index of Economic Sentiment Up by 2.4 points in February

Stats Office: Index of Economic Sentiment Up by 2.4 points in February

Bratislava, February 29 (TASR) – The three-month Index of Economic Sentiment (IES) rose by 2.4 points month-on-month to 100.7 in February, with confidence surging mainly in services and to a certain extent also in trade, the Slovak Statistics Office reported on Monday.

Other contributors, still from January, were positive developments recorded in industry and among consumers.

The figure currently lags behind the level seen over the same period of last year by 1.7 points and by 3.4 points below the long-term average.

As for individual sectors, the indicator of trust in industry in February fell by 2.3 points m-o-m to 9. This indicator was negatively influenced by relatively higher stocks of industrial products and a slight drop in orders.

Meanwhile, the indicator of confidence in construction declined by 2.5 points m-o-m to minus 12, which was due to negative evaluations of order levels and expected employment. The current figure is 15 points above the long-term average.

The trust in trade indicator reached 10.7, increasing by 0.4 points m-o-m. This was driven mainly by positive developments in current business activities and the situation in stockpiles.

As regards the indicator of confidence in services, this figure rose quite substantially by 6 points to 5.7 points. The indicator was influenced by positive assessments of all three component parts of the survey.

The mood among consumers deteriorated in February, with the respective indicator (with seasonal effects taken into account) going down by 2 points to minus 7.3. This was the result of negative evaluations of expected economic developments, unemployment and the respondents’ prospects in terms of savings. The latest result was 1.3 points worse than in February 2015, but was above the long-term average.