November 29 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's business sentiment brightened up across all four monitored sectors in November after a decline recorded in October, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said on Tuesday.
The overall business sentiment indicator climbed by 3.5 percentage points in November compared to the previous month, with improvement recorded in industry, construction, services and especially retail trade, the statistical office said in a monthly survey.
The composite indicator in the retail sector increased the most - by 8.7 percentage points (pp) as managers expressed optimistic assessments and expectations of the business environment in the pre-seasonal holiday period. Their opinions about the volume of sales and orders placed with suppliers over the next three months also improved.
However, a dampening demand was perceived to have affected the sector in the outgoing month, compounded by the effects of competition and the unpredictable economic situation.
"The retailers’ assessments about the selling prices in the past month are in a direction of an increase, as 31.3% of the managers foresee them to continue to rise over the next three months," the NSI said.
In industry, the business sentiment indicator showed the feeblest gain, of 0.8 pp, which was nevertheless an improvement on the 1.3 pp decline in October. The assessments of entrepreneurs of the current business situation and their forecasts of production activity in the next quarter both were more positive in November.
The business sentiment indicator in construction increased by 2.2 pp in November as entrepreneurs found the business situation in this sector has improved, due to a stronger inflow of orders during the month. Expectations in construction are favourable for the next six months, too.
In the services sector, the business climate indicator also rose in November, by a strong 5.3 pp, due to managers’ positive assessments of the present business situation of enterprises and forecasts of growing demand.
The economic uncertainty, labour shortage and competition in the branch were cited as the most significant challenges for businesses in the sector. Prices in services are perceived to be subject to increases in the next three months, according to the survey.