Confidence in Turkey’s services, retail trade and construction sectors down in February: TÜİK

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Confidence in Turkey’s services, retail trade and construction sectors dropped in February compared to the previous month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced on Feb. 22. 

The services sector index fell 1.3 percent to 100.7 in the month, from 102 in January. According to the TÜİK, this resulted from a smaller number of managers over the past three months seeing the business situation as positive and demand/turnover as rising.

The retail trade confidence index was down 1.5 percent month-on-month to reach 104.7 in February, from 106.2 in the previous month. The fall came from a decreased number of managers expecting an improvement in business activity/sales over the next three months, the TÜİK said.

The construction sector confidence index also fell 3.7 percent to 83.8 points in February from 87 in January. This decrease “stemmed from the decreased number of managers evaluating ‘current overall order books’ as above normal for the season,” the TÜİK said.

Sectoral confidence indices range from 0 to 200, indicating an optimistic outlook when above 100, but a pessimistic outlook when below 100, according to the TÜİK.

Meanwhile, consumer confidence in the Turkish economy also inched down 0.1 percent to 72.25 in February, the TÜİK reported on Feb. 20.