BRATISLAVA, April 30, (WEBNOVINY) — The positive trend of economic sentiment in the Slovak Republic continued in April. As the Statistics Office further informed on Monday, the economic sentiment indicator rose by 0.7 points to 91.7 points. According to the Statistics Office, the reason was a more positive development in all sectors the last month and this month in the building sector and in consumer confidence. However, the indicator is still lower than in the same period of last year, by 2.6 points. Its lagging behind the long-term average has decreased to 5.9 points.
The confidence indicator in industry in April fell by one point for two, which got it to one point below the long-term average, which is three points. The decline of the indicator was caused by expectations of lower production over the next three months and an expected fall in demand for industrial products. The confidence indicator in the construction sector in April compared to March rose by 11 points to minus 36.5 due to a significantly more optimistic assessment of current demand and expected employment. In April, the lagging behind the long-term average of this indicator decreased to 11.5 points.
The confidence indicator in trade dropped by 1.4 points to 9.3 points in April compared to March. This was caused by a more pessimistic assessment of the expected business situation. The confidence indicator in services in April fell by 8.7 percentage points to 21 points, influenced by development of negative evaluations of all its three components.
The Statistics Office says that first monitoring of opinions of the population after the early elections on March 10 has confirmed a favorable trend of improving consumer sentiment. In April, consumer confidence indicator increased significantly over the previous month, by 11.5 points to minus 20.8 points. The reason is declining pessimism in all components, particularly in assessing the prospects of the economic situation and unemployment in the country. Compared with the same period of last year, consumer sentiment now is more favorable by 9 points.
SITA
