Bulgaria's Business Climate Up by 2.4% April 2011

Bulgaria's total business climate indicator increases by 2.4% April 2011 restoring in half the drop from the previous month.

There are 10.0 percentage points left in order to reach the long-term average value of this indicator. The improvement is due to the sectors of industry and services, since the business climate in construction and retail trade is worsened.

The composite indicator of business climate in industry increases by 4.1 percentage points in comparison with March and it is only 2.3 percentage points below the level of the long term average value. The inquiry registers increases optimism about the business situation of enterprises over the next 6 months and more favorable opinions with regard to the assessment of the present business situation.

The production assurance with orders is preserved at its level from the last few months despite a certain increase of the orders from abroad. In the short term the managers have positive expectations about the activity, which is accompanied by better export expectation as well

The major problems for the industrial entrepreneurs continue to be the uncertain economic environment and the insufficient domestic demand, as the uncertain economic environment is still above its long-term average value. The last inquiry registers a decrease of the expectations about an increase of the selling prices in industry over the next 3 months.

In April the composite business climate indicator in construction decreased by 3.3 percentage points mostly due to the increases pessimism of the construction entrepreneurs about the present business situation of enterprises. In the managers' opinion the construction activity has decreased in comparison with the previous months. The expectations about the next 3 months, though optimistic, are slightly more reserved in comparison with the previous month.

The uncertain economic environment and the financial difficulties continue to be the main factors limiting the activity in the sector, even though there are less financial problems in comparison with March.

In April the relative share of Bulgarian construction enterprises which pointed those factors out is 75.0 and 63.1% respectively. The production assurance with orders in April is preserved and it is assessed to be 5.3 months. At the same time the expectations about new orders over the next 6 months are slightly improved. With regard to the selling prices in construction there are some expectations about an increase over the next 3 months.

The composite indicator "business climate in retail trade" in April decreases by 4.2 percentage points in comparison with the previous month due to the worsened managers' assessments about the present business situation of enterprises and to the more pessimistic expectations about the next 6 months.

The inquiry also registers a decrease of the volume of sales over the last months, as at the same time the highly overestimated increase expectations from the previous month are significantly revised, thus restoring their level from January 2011. With regard to the orders placed with suppliers a change is not expected over the next 3 months.

In April the uncertain economic environment continues to be the major factor limiting the activity of the enterprises in the sector. At the same time the inquiry registers a significant decrease of the negative influence of the financial problems in comparison with March.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!