Trust in Czech economy grew in August, survey shows

Photo: Tomáš Adamec / Czech Radio

Trust in the Czech economy experienced a slight increase in August according to the results of a monthly survey conducted by the Czech Statistics Office released on Monday. The rise is particularly thanks to greater optimism in the trade and services sectors. However, industry trust remains at a six year low and consumer trust has decreased.

Photo: Tomáš Adamec / Czech Radio
The Czech Statistics Office conducts monthly surveys of industry trust in various sectors of the Czech economy. Trust levels are measured according to an especially designed index of conjuncture.

Consumers and businesses alike are sent a questionnaire with relevant questions such as whether they expect to seal more business deals in the next three months.

The subsequent answers are then compiled to create a unified index.

According to this statistic, overall trust in the Czech economy grew from 95.1 points measured in the previous month to 95.6 in August.

Among entrepreneurs trust grew by 0.8 percentage points compared to July, when their pessimism rate had hit a five year low. The rise was particularly among those active in the services and trading sectors.

According to the director of business cycle survey research at the Czech Statistics Agency, Jiří Obst, trade and services tend to do well during the summer months and this also projected into the survey data.

Among consumers trust went down from 106.4 points in July to 105.1 points in August, the same number that it had been during May and June.

A sharp decrease was registered among construction companies, whose projections for the future hit a ten month low.

Survey data suggests that the biggest pessimism is currently to be found among industrial companies. Their trust currently lies at 90.3 points on the index scale, the lowest in the past six years.

However, when it comes to the growth rate of production activity for the next three months, their expectations increased.