Following four months of growth, confidence of Slovak entrepreneurs and consumers in the economy worsened for the first time in March. The overall seasonally adjusted Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) went down by 2.3 points from the previous month to 104, the Statistics Office reported on Wednesday.
Confidence worsened in three of the five indicator components. The overall figure is 9.7 points more optimistic than in the same period of last year, but it still lags 2 points behind the long-term average. The ESI in trade declined by 1.7 points to 5.3 in March. Respondents negatively evaluated the current trend of business activities and they expect increase in prices of goods.
The seasonally adjusted indicator for the construction sector fell for the second consecutive month, going down by 2 points to stand at -11 in March under the influence of less favourable evaluations of the overall level of orders.
(TASR)
