Bulgaria's Business Climate Worsens in September

Bulgaria's business climate indicator dropped by 2.9 percentage points in September compared with August due to decreased business confidence in industry, construction and retail trade sectors.

The business climate in industry deteriorated by 4.8 percentage points due to the more reserved entrepreneurs' assessments and expectations, the National Statsitical Institute (NSI) said in a monthly survey.

The uncertain economic environment remained the main obstacle to business development in industry, followed by insufficient domestic demand and weaknesses in economic legislation, according to entrepreneurs.

The business climate indicator in construction dropped by 3.4 percentage points in September compared to the previous month due to worsening entrepreneurs' expectations about the business situation of the enterprises over the next six months (Annex, Figure 7).

The business climate in retail trade worsened by 1.7 percentage points due to the shifting of retailers' assessments and expectations about the business situation of the enterprises from 'better' towards preserving 'unchanged'. The entrepreneurs' forecasts about the volume of sales and orders placed with suppliers over the next three months were more moderate in September compared with August.

The business climate in the services sector was little changed in September compared with August.