Illustrative stock photo (source: TASR)
The three-month moving average of the economic sentiment indicator (ESI) increased by 0.9 points month-on-month in August to 100.9 points. This is a result of the positive development of opinions in construction in the current month and more favourable opinions in industry, services and trade over the previous period, the Statistics Office informed on August 30.
ESI is currently exceeding the value of the corresponding period last year by 1.8 points but it is lagging behind the long-term average by 3.2 points.
The confidence indicator in industry dropped by 8.7 percentage points in August to 1.0, falling below the long-term average. It now represents the lowest value since December 2015. The indicator’s development was negatively influenced mainly by the decrease in evaluations of expected production over the next three months and by the lower number of orders.
The confidence indicator in construction increased by 4 points m/m to -10.5 points in August, as a result of more favourable evaluations of the overall order books. It is currently exceeding its long-term average by 16.5 points.
As for the confidence indicator in trade, it decreased by 2.3 percentage points m/m to 13.0 points in August, mainly as a result of the negative evaluations of current and expected business activities.
The confidence indicator in services slightly increased again in August, by 0.7 percentage point m/m to 8.7 points. The indicator’s development was affected mainly by positive evaluations of the business situation and also by expected demand while the demand was evaluated negatively over the last three months, according to the Statistics Office.
The consumer mood has not changed much in August. Compared with the previous month, the seasonally adjusted consumer confidence indicator increased by 0.5 points to -9.1. This results from the pessimistic perception of the future financial situation of households which was outweighed by optimistic views of the expected development of the business situation and the estimated development of unemployment in Slovakia.
The current seasonally adjusted result is higher by 6.3 points compared with the corresponding period in 2015, and it exceeded the long-term average, the Statistics Office informed.
