January 30 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's business climate was little changed on a monthly comparison basis in January, the country's statistical office said on Monday.
Improvements in business sentiment recorded in Bulgaria's industry and retail trade sectors were offset by declines in construction and services as all sectors were affected by the ongoing economic uncertainty, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a monthly business climate survey.
The composite indicator in the industry sector went up by 1.0 percentage point (pp) on the month in January, as industrial entrepreneurs voiced favourable assessments of the current business situation of enterprises. Their predictions on exports and production activity over the next quarter, however, were moderate overall, with a shortage of capacity expected in the coming months.
"The uncertain economic environment and a shortage of labour remain the main problems for the activity of the enterprises, although in the last month, a decrease in the negative influence of the first factor is reported," NSI said. Over a fifth of managers expect selling prices to rise over the next three months.
Business sentiment in retail grew by 1.9 pp in January compared to December, on the back of entrepreneurs' optimistic expectations of the business situation of enterprises in the next six months. A growing share of retailers see selling prices increasing in the next quarter.
The negative influence of economic uncertainty, cost of materials and labour shortages remain the chief obstacles to enterprise growth.
In construction, the business climate indicator edged down by 0.8 pp, due to the more reserved assessments of the entrepreneurs in the sector and their negative opinions on business activity in the past three months. Against this background, entrepreneurs' expectations on business activity in construction in the next quarter are slightly improved and are accompanied by expectations of higher selling prices.
Finally, the business sentiment indicator in the services sector dropped the most, by a monthly 1.1 pp, with managers' expectations and assessments of present demand shifting from better to remaining the same. Forecasts for demand in services over the next three months are improved, while over 18% of managers point to an expected rise in services sector prices over the next quarter.