March 2 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's business sentiment indicator decreased by 0.8 percentage points month-on-month in February, due to the worsened assessments of the business climate in retail and services, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said.
The indicator in services decreased by 3.6 pp due to the more unfavourable managers’ assessments and expectations about the business situation of the enterprises, NSI said on Friday in a monthly business climate survey, in which managers of 4,200 enterprises were interviewed.
The managers' opinions about the present and expected demand for services were more reserved in February. Competition in the sector remains the most serious challenge for businesses, followed by the factors ‘uncertain economic environment’ and ‘shortage of labour’.
The indicator in retail dropped by 0.6 pp month-on-month due to the shifting of the retailers’ assessments about the present business situation of enterprises from ‘good’ towards ‘satisfactory’, which is normal for the season, NSI noted.
However, retailers' are more optimistic in their expectations about the volume of sales over the next three months.
The business sentiment indicator increased only in construction, by 0.5 pp, as a result of the entrepreneurs’ heightened expectations about the business situation of the enterprises over the next six months.
The indicator in the manufacturing sector was unchanged on a monthly comparison basis in February.