The year’s end was characterized by stability according to the economic sentiment indicator (ESI) relating to the eurozone. According to the data of the General Directorate for Economy and Finance of the European Commission, the very slight decline of 0.2 points has enabled ESI to remain above the long-term average for the twelfth consecutive month. The result reflects particularly positive surveys in terms of the confidence of European citizens in the services sector, offset by essential stability in the ESI for the industrial, building industry and consumer sectors and by a decided fall in confidence in the retailing sector. At the level of individual member states, the countries that show the best performances in terms of ESI are Poland (+4.4 points), Spain (+3.4) and Italy (+0.3); France and Germany, on the contrary, lose respectively 2 and 0.3 points. The Business Climate Indicator (BCI), on the other hand, registered an all-time record, a clear sign of the positive industrial trend and of the confidence of operators and consumers throughout Europe, linked mainly to the excellent expectations for the future expressed by company directors and the growth of orders for goods destined for the export market.
