The economic climate index stood at 108.8 points in April from 107.0 points in March.

According to the IOBE economic situation survey, it is the highest point of the index in the last 12 months. This development is the result of improving expectations in retail trade and services, as in the rest of the sectors the changes were downward, while consumer confidence is also deteriorating.

As far as households are concerned, the negative impact from the continued, albeit less pronounced, upward trend in food and other basic goods seems to dominate. However, it should be noted that on average this year, consumer confidence is higher than last year’s average, as is also the case with the overall economic climate index.

“In view of the upcoming elections, it seems that overall positive expectations prevail in the economy, but at the same time there is a waiting attitude in view of the economic policy that will be formed after the elections and the rest of the data in a volatile global economic context” notes IOBE.

In more detail:

  • in manufacturing, the negative balance of estimates for orders and demand was unchanged, estimates for inventories strengthened and positive forecasts for production in the coming months remained at the level of the previous month.
  • in construction, the negative forecasts for production strengthened significantly, while on the contrary the strongly positive forecasts for employment weakened.
  • in the retail trade, estimates for current sales were held at the same levels, with the level of inventories escalating marginally, while forecasts for short-term sales development are improving significantly
  • in services, positive estimates for the current state of business strengthened significantly, those for demand improved more modestly, while at the same time forecasts for the short-term evolution of demand strengthened significantly.
  • in consumer confidence, households’ negative forecasts for the country’s economic situation strengthened slightly, as did the corresponding ones for their own economic situation. At the same time, forecasts for major markets weakened marginally and the intention to save fell slightly.