Economic Assessments Stabilise

This effect is largely due to the withdrawal of the drastic restrictive measures in mid-December. Index improvements were mainly recorded in sectors that were particularly affected by the restrictive measures in the previous month. Due to the ongoing restrictive measures, supply bottlenecks and uncertainty about the impact of the Omicron wave, companies are cautious and expect a somewhat weaker economic momentum.

The current situation index rose by 2.4 points in January and remained positive at 14.2 points. There was an improvement in retail trade (+3.1 points), but the situation index was negative at –3.2 points, as in the previous months. Services also showed an improvement (+5.2 points) after the slump of the previous month, the index rose again more clearly into positive territory with 9.5 points. Assessments of the situation in construction also rose (+4.1 points). At 41.2 points, the index was noticeably in the confident range. In contrast, the index for manufacturing deteriorated (–3.1 points). However, the situation index remained clearly above the zero line at 18.8 points.

The index of business expectations remained almost unchanged (+0.2 points) in January (seasonally adjusted) and continued to be in positive territory at 11.7 points. In the retail sector, the expectations index rose markedly after the slump of the previous month (+13.8 points) and was in negative territory at –6.5 points, but again within the long-term average. In the service sectors the index rose slightly by 1.0 points and was positive at 8.4 points. In the construction industry, on the other hand, the expectations index fell significantly (–7.8 points), but was still above average at 38.7 points, partly due to construction price expectations. In the manufacturing sector, the expectations index (seasonally adjusted) again lost momentum (–3.2 points) but remained in the confident range at 15.0 points.