The GKI business climate index rose in February

By: Trademagazin Date: 2026. 02. 26. 12:12

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According to a survey by GKI Economic Research Ltd. – conducted with the support of the EU – consumers’ prospects improved noticeably in February, while those of companies remained practically unchanged compared to January. The summary indicator of the prospects, the GKI business cycle index, rose by 1 point. The willingness of enterprises to employ weakened slightly, and the overall expectation regarding the expected development of sales prices decreased slightly. The responding companies felt that the business environment was somewhat more unpredictable in the second month of this year than in January.

The GKI business confidence index hardly changed in February compared to the previous month. The industrial confidence index rose by 2 points, and the construction index by a good 3 points. At the same time, the trade index stagnated, and the service sector index decreased by almost 4 points. Regarding the prospects for the near future, the construction industry is the least optimistic, while industry and business services are the most optimistic sectors.

The employment indicator, which indicates the aggregated staffing expectations of enterprises, decreased slightly in the second month of 2026 compared to January. This indicator has fallen to a five-month low. In the next three months, 10% of enterprises are preparing to expand their workforce, while 11% would reduce it. In the construction industry and trade, those seeking to reduce the number of employees are in the majority compared to those planning to expand.

The perception of the predictability of the business environment – after a significant improvement in January – corrected slightly negatively in February. The exception to this is the industrial sector, where respondents felt the environment was much more predictable than in January.

The price indicator, which shows the expected development of companies’ selling prices in the next three months, was at a ten-month high in January, but this indicator fell slightly in February. In the next three months, 33% of companies want to raise prices, while 8% are preparing to lower prices – compared to 35% and 8% in January.

The GKI consumer confidence index – after stagnating in January – reached a two-year high in February. The increase this month is primarily due to the drastically improving perception of the country’s expected economic situation in the next 12 months. In addition, the population also assessed their financial situation for the past 12 months and their financial prospects for the next 12 months as improving compared to the previous month. However, the perception of their own money that can be spent on high-value consumer goods deteriorated slightly. The population’s inflation expectations eased, while the outlook for the expected development of the number of unemployed people became slightly less favorable.