Stats: Economic Sentiment Improves in May, but Still Below Long-term Average

Bratislava, 28 May (TASR) - The sentiment among Slovak businesses and consumers improved for the second consecutive month in May, with the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) increasing by 0.4 points to 100.1, the Statistics Office reported on Thursday. The overall figure in May was 3.4 points more optimistic than in the same period of last year. However, it still lags 5.6 points behind the long-term average. Positive evaluations exceeded negative ones for the first time this year, the last time such a situation was five months ago. Entrepreneurs engaged in the services, retail, and construction sectors were more optimistic, while those engaged in industry and consumers were slightly more pessimistic. After seasonal adjustments, the confidence indicator in industry decreased by 1.6 points to 0.7 in May, mainly as a result of drop in orders and in industrial output expected in the next three months. The seasonally adjusted confidence indicator in services grew by 3.7 points to 7, with improvement posted in two of its three components, particularly evaluations of the business situation and expected demand. Meanwhile, the confidence indicator in trade rose by 1.7 points from April to stand at 2. The respondents evaluated positively a trend in business activities over the past three months, as well as stocks of finished products. Business activities improved mostly among respondents engaged in retail outside shops, kiosks, and markets. The confidence indicator in construction grew by 1.5 points to -1.5 in May under the influence of more optimistic evaluations regarding the overall level of orders. Meanwhile, evaluations regarding expected employment remained unchanged. Slovak consumers were slightly more pessimistic in May when compared to April, with the seasonally adjusted indicator falling to the three-year low. It went down by 0.9 points from April to -28.3 and was 8.4 points below the long-term average. Consumers were more pessimistic in two of the four components of the indicator. They were mainly concerned about the development of their household financial situation in terms of both - the overall financial situation and expected savings. Meanwhile, they showed little optimism when it comes to the overal economic situation and unemployment. ko