Business confidence improves in June

ANKARA

Business confidence in Turkey gained momentum in June from the previous month, a regular survey by the Central Bank showed on June 24.

The business confidence index increased by a strong 3.6 percent on a monthly basis to touch 102.5 in June, the Central Bank said.

That followed a 6.3-percent decline month-on-month in business sentiment in May. The confidence index increased every single month from January to April this year.

The 100-point level on the index separates optimism from pessimism.

Five of the business sentiment survey’s eight main sub-indices rose in June on a monthly basis, data from the Central Bank also showed.

The sharpest increase was registered in the sub-index for total orders received over the past three months. The related index soared nearly 17 percent from the previous months to stand at 114.1 in April.

The sub-index for general business situation also recorded a strong 15-percent increase from May to 90.2

The sub-index for current orders and fixed capital expenditures rose by 3 percent and 7 percent on a monthly basis, respectively.

Sectorial confidence increase

On a related note, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) reported yesterday that confidence in the country’s key retail trade, construction and services industries improved in June compared to the previous month.

Retail trade sector confidence index jumped to 93.2 over the month, rising 3.7 percent from May.

In the retail trade sector, business activity-sales and business activity-sales expectation indices increased by 12 percent and 4.2 percent to stand at 82 and 91.3, respectively, while the current volume of stock index declined by 2.4 percent to 106.3.

The construction confidence index, which stood at 49.8 in May, was 50.4 in June, marking a 1.3 percent rise on a monthly basis.

The services sector confidence index jumped 7.5 percent month-on-month to 85.4 in the month due to improvement in business situation, demand-turnover and demand-turnover expectation indices.