Confidence indicators for trade and industry fell in August this year from the same month last year due to a decline in economic and manufacturing expectations respectively.
Fedesarrollo’s Business Opinion Survey results show that the Commercial Confidence Index (ICCO) stood at 26.9% in August, down 3.8 percentage points (pps) from the previous month and 16.6 pps from from August 2021.
This behavior is mainly explained by a 2.5 percentage point increase in inventories and a 9.6 percentage point decrease in economic expectations for the next six months.
However, the perception indicator on the current economic situation of companies grew by 0.5 percentage point.
For its part, the Industrial Confidence Index (ICI) stood at 7.1% in August 2022, down 2.6 percentage points compared to July and 8.5 percentage points compared to August 2021.
The increase in the stock level by 4.5 pp. and the drop in production expectations of 4.4 pp. for the next quarter, the decline in industrial confidence, despite the current volume of business orders increasing by 1.3 pp.
In August, installed power usage in industry was 77.6%, up 2.1 percentage points from August 2021.
In addition, companies’ perception of the favorable economic and socio-political conditions to invest decreased compared to the previous measurement.
For 39.4% of those surveyed, the current economic conditions are unfavorable, compared to 23.8% in July.
In turn, 18.2% of business people think the current conditions are favorable compared to 23.8% in the previous measurement, while 42.5% confirm that they are neutral.
In the specific case of the construction sector, there was a decrease in companies’ perception of the current economic situation, in construction pace and in the sector’s expectations for the next quarter compared to the second quarter of 2022.
The balance of the construction subsector was 24.5%, a decrease of 13.5 percentage points compared to the same quarter of 2021.
Source: El heraldo
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
