August 18, 2022
The business barometer has fallen for the third month in a row.
There was a loss of confidence in all sectors of activity surveyed, with the exception of the manufacturing industry.
After the sharp recovery in April, the production capacity utilisation rate in the manufacturing industry has dropped back a little.
Confidence improved slightly in the manufacturing industry; a downward revision of demand and employment forecasts was more than offset by a more positive appraisal of the current situation. Company managers were especially optimistic about stock levels.
In the business-related services sector, the loss of confidence was reflected in all components of the indicator. In particular, the outlook for business activity has deteriorated sharply.
The third consecutive drop in business confidence in the building industry is entirely attributable to a more negative development of order books and equipment used.
Likewise, morale among company managers in the trade sector dropped heavily for the third month in a row. Here, the loss of confidence is mainly to do with a marked weakening of the outlook for both demand and employment. The overall smoothed synthetic curve, which reflects the underlying cyclical trend, has fallen further. The results of the quarterly survey of production capacity in the manufacturing industry point to a small decrease in the production capacity utilisation rate in July, to 80.7 %, compared to 81.8 % in April.
Source: National Bank of Belgium
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