Employment pessimism is subsiding

GKI’s economic sentiment index continued to improve moderately in February. In the business sector expectations were more optimistic, with the exception of industry – here the confidence index reduced a bit. In building and construction the confidence index was up, for the third month in a row. After a decline in January, retail confidence index started an upward trend in February 2010. The number of those expecting a rice decrease in industry grew; service providers do not expect price changes, in retail the majority plans to raise prices. Consumers are less afraid of losing their jobs and their inflationary expectations are significantly more optimistic.