THE ECONOMIC mood in Slovakia continued to sour in October as the Index of Economic Sentiment (IES) dropped by 0.7 points month-to-month to a level of 89.7 points, its lowest point since April 2010, the Statistics Office announced on October 28.
The slide in the index was largely caused by pessimistic assessments among entrepreneurs in the retail and service sectors as well as more pessimism expressed by consumers, with consumer confidence falling by 2.5 points on an annual basis, the TASR newswire reported.
However, the indicator of confidence in industry notched up by 1 percent month-on-month in October due to an expected increase in industrial production over the next three months. More confidence was also recorded within the construction sector in October, rising 7.5 points month-on-month to a level of -37.5 points. But that figure remains 13.5 points below the sector’s long-term average.
A significant drop in confidence in the retail sector in October was reported by the Statistics Office, with the indicator plunging below its long-term average for the second time this year, TASR wrote.
In terms of the eurozone, the economic sentiment was measured in October 2011 at 94.8 points, which is down 0.2 points from the 95 points it recorded in the previous month.
The European Commission published the results of the survey on European sentiment just hours after a key summit of eurozone leaders where they passed a package of measures to tackle the debt crisis in the eurozone, the SITA newswire reported.
Some analysts have argued that the agreement probably came too late to prevent a significant slowdown in economies of the eurozone in the coming months, SITA wrote.
7. Nov 2011 at 0:00 | Compiled by Spectator staff
