Economic Sentiment Indicator in January lowest since pandemic began

Confidence among Slovak entrepreneurs in January 2021 fell to its lowest level since the first wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Statistics Office reported on Thursday. Pessimism among entrepreneurs was caused by the tightened restrictions in January. This was reflected mainly in services, and to a lesser extent also among consumers, in industry and in trade. Confidence in construction remained unchanged on a month-on-month basis. The current ESI value is 18.6 points lower than the one for the same period of last year and 21.9 points below the long-term average. "ESI values were lower only for seven months during the financial crisis in 2009 and for three months last year after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic began," said the statisticians.