The Year Begins with a Slight Improvement in the Business Climate

In January 2020, the total business climate indicator increases by 1.4 percentage points in comparison with December 2019, which is due to the improved business conjuncture in industry.

Industry

The composite indicator 'business climate in industry' increases by 5.0 percentage points as a result of the more optimistic industrial entrepreneurs' assessments and expectations about the business situation of the enterprises. Their forecasts about the export and production activity over the next 3 months are also favourable. The average capacity utilization increases by 1.7 percentage points in comparison with 3 months earlier and it reaches 78.0%, as regards the expected demand over the next months a surplus of capacity is foreseen. The shortage of labour and uncertain economic environment continue to be the main obstacles for the business development pointed out respectively by 32.8% and 32.3% of the enterprises. Concerning the selling prices in industry, the prevailing managers' expectations are them to remain unchanged over the next 3 months.

Construction

In January the composite indicator 'business climate in construction' decreases by 1.0 percentage points, which is due to the more unfavourable construction entrepreneurs' assessments about the present business situation of the enterprises. The production assurance with orders is preserved compared to October 2019 and it is assessed to be 8.5 months. At the same time the managers expect increased inflow of new orders over the next 6 months, which according to them will lead to improvement of the activity in the short term . In the last month the inquiry also reports a decrease in the number of clients with delay in payments. The most serious difficulties...