The economic confidence in the euro zone declined markedly in April, while business climate indicator also decreased, the European Commission said Wednesday.
The economic sentiment indicator in the euro zone, which has been on a downward path since mid-2007, stood at 97.1 in April, sharply down by 2.5 points from that in March. It was the lowest level since September 2005.
The monthly indicator, based on business and consumer surveys, dropped by 3.8 points to 98.1 in the European Union (EU), according to revised figures.
The surveys are conducted in different sectors of the economy, namely industry, services, construction and retail trade as well as consumers.
The decrease in the sentiment indicator for the EU reflects a decline in confidence across all five sectors, with a marked drop in services and retail trade. In the euro zone, sectoral developments were broadly similar, with the exception of consumer confidence, which remained unchanged from March.
Following continuous worsening, the commission said the indicator of both the euro zone and the EU now stood below its long-term average.
At the country level, a large majority of countries reported decreasing sentiment in April. Confidence was worsening in all large member states, notably so in Britain, which registered a drop of 8.9 points. The index also decreased by 1.2 points in Germany and by 2.5 points in France.
Meanwhile, the business climate indicator (BCI) for the euro zone declined again in April after a slight rebound in March, the European Commission said in a separate report released today.
Nearly all the components of the BCI worsened, production expectations being the only exception, which remained unchanged. Industry managers' appraisals of the production trend in recent months and of their total order books deteriorated sharply. Their assessments concerning export order books and stocks of finished products declined more moderately.
The commission said the current level of the indicator still continued to suggest above historical average industrial production growth, but the decline pointed to a weakening of the monthly growth rates in the second quarter of 2008.
Source:Xinhua
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