Economic Expectations Continue to Decline

The index of current assessments for the economy as a whole remains unchanged in March (excluding seasonal fluctuations) – 0.1 points below the value of the previous month – but remains at a fairly confident level of 16.7 points. In the construction industry, the index gained 8.5 points, reaching a new record level of 42.4 points. In the service industries, the index fell slightly (–1.2 points) and continues to signal a good service economy (16.5 points). In the economically important manufacturing sector, the situation index continues to lose momentum (–1.0 points) andremains with 8.6 points only just within the range of good economic estimates.

The index of business expectations continued to lose ground (–1.8 points) and reached a value of 8.9 points. In the construction industry, the expectations index declined (–2.3 points), but the index score of 13.1 points remains optimistic. In the service industries, the expectation index rose slightly (+0.2 points). The index score of 13.4 points continues to signal confident economic expectations. In the manufacturing sector, the expectation index lost considerably (–4.9 points) and is only slightly above the zero line (0.3 points). As a result, March also saw rather heterogeneous developments across the three sectors. In particular, the weak development in the manufacturing industry signals a further slowdown in economic momentum.

Details on all sectors in the current economic survey can be found here.