Businessmen less confident in development of industry, construction and banking

Businessmen are less confident in the development of industry, constructions and banking system, but are expecting better business results in the area of services. The data is contained in the National Confidence Study, conducted by IDIS Viitorul. According to the organisation’s experts, the regular consumer is puzzled because of the recent price hikes, inflation expectations and the precarious material situation of their families. Economic analyst Veaceslav Ionita told a press conference on Wednesday that the positive image of the national economy system is maintained by the service consumers and providers. The negative background is provided by the industrial crisis. In the service sector, the best expectations are shown by healthcare companies, educational service providers, business consultants. Businessmen in the financial sector, on the other hand are more pessimistic. Current operations in industry, unstable orders and the general situation in this sector are interpreted as negative, but there is a positive expectation potential concerning the industrial output and business activity, the expert states. He adds that these expectations have gone down though compared to the first half of 2007. In the industrial sector, joint enterprises are the most optimistic (105.8 points compared to 92.2 for local companies). Compared to the beginning of 2007, when an uncertainty was ascertained on the construction market, in the second half the companies in the field are satisfied with high performances and the increase in sales, though forecasting a negative trend for future sales. The index of confidence in trade underwent a sudden decrease proving that trade companies are uncertain about the positive development of the business. Small stores proved to be the most affected, while individual traders are more optimistic. According to Ionita, the information contained in the study is important for the administration of business, prospecting new business domains, maintaining a monitoring of the consumer’s individual perception trends and, last but not least, for the creation of objective and relevant instruments for the clear understanding of the economic processes in Moldova. The National Confidence Study appears once in 6 months and refers to the following indicators: Consumer Confidence Index, Industry Development Index, Services Development Index, Construction Development Index, Trade Development Index and Economic sentiment. The study is worked out based on an EU standard methodology. Collection of primary data was collected via 5 surveys on representative national samples.