October 2023 saw business sentiment improve in retail trade, but it worsened in the construction and services sectors, and in manufacturing it has remained without any significant changes.
Business confidence indicators characterize the general situation in the sector and they are acquired by carrying out business surveys in industry, construction, retail trade and services sectors. If the indicator is above zero, business environment is positive, if it is below zero – business environment is negative.
In October 2023 confidence indicator in retail trade was 4.4, according to seasonally adjusted data, and, compared to September, it has risen by 1.8 percentage points
In the services sector, the seasonally adjusted confidence indicator in October was - 2.3 and business environment of entrepreneurs, compared to September, has worsened by 3.8 percentage points.
In construction, according to seasonally adjusted data, confidence indicator in October comprised - 12.2, which is a decrease of 0.7 percentage points as compared to the previous month.
According to seasonally adjusted data, confidence indicator in manufacturing in October comprised - 8.2. As compared to September, it has increased by 0.2 percentage points.
In October 2023 the economic sentiment indicator overall for Latvia comprised 94.1, (96.2 – in the previous month). In October, the same as in the previous two months, this indicator in Latvia was slightly higher than in the European Union as a whole (93.1).
Another measure, the economic uncertainty indicator comprised 24.9 (19.9 – in the previous month). This indicator describes the predictability of socio-economic situation in the country and it is composed of predictability of enterprises’ economic activity indicators in industry, construction, retail trade, services sector, as well as consumers’ assessment of the predictability of household’s financial situation. If the indicator is above zero, the uncertainty of socio-economic situation is high, it’s difficult to predict its development, if it is below zero, it is easy to predict the situation, it is more certain. In October, uncertainty increased in all sectors.
