Bulgarian Business Sentiment Improves in January

Bulgaria's overall buisness climate indicator has risen by 3.8 percentage points in January compared with the previous month, a new survey showed on Wednesday.

The business climate indicator for the industrial sector has increased by 3.4 percentage points in comparison with December 2014, "due to the more optimistic managers' assessments and expectations about the business situation of the enterprises."

The average capacity utilization rate in January rose by 2.7 percentage points compared to October 2014, reaching 76.1%, according to the survey conducted by the National Statistical Institute (NSI).

Most managers expect the selling prices of their products to remain flat over the next three months.

The uncertain economic environment in Bulgaria and low domestic demand, however, will continue to constrain activity in the industrial sector.

The contruction sector also showed a positive percepetion of the situation in the country with an increase of 9.8 percentage points in the business climate indicator.

Contracts of slightly longer terms (4.9 months) have been signed as compared to those for December 2014 (4.4 months). The uncertain economic environment, competion in the sector and financial problems are seen as the main hurdles on the way to improvement.

The business climate indicator in the services sector has increased by 4.1 percentage points compared with December 2014 mainly due to the more optimistic managers' expectations about the business situation of the enterprises over the next six months.

Managers in the services sector expect an increase in demand and improvement in overall conditions. Prices are not expected to change over the next three months. Weaknesses in economic legislation are referred to as the...