Romania Ranks Last In EU On Economic Sentiment Indicator

The economic sentiment indicator, or ESI, slightly rose in December in Romania to 64 points, from 62.1 points a month earlier, but the country continues to rank last among the European Union member states in the European Commission's ESI classification.

Business and consumer confidence in Romania's economy was the lowest among EU member countries in November, too.

In December, Romania had a positive evolution on the industrial confidence indicator (from minus 13 points to minus 12 points), on the service confidence indicator (from minus 14 points to minus 12 points) and the construction confidence indicator (from minus 43 points to minus 41 points).

However, Romania's retail trade confidence indicator worsened in December, at minus 17 points, from minus 16 points, according to EC's Business and Consumer Survey, released Thursday.

The report does not include data on the consumer confidence indicator for December. The indicator was at minus 50 points in November, lower from minus 49 points a month earlier.

Most of the EU member states observed a general improvement in sentiment.

Among the largest EU member states, the UK reported a sharp increase (+8.2 points), followed by France (+4.1), while the improvements were less marked in Italy (+2.9), Germany (+1.7) and Spain (+1.2).

The sentiment in the Netherlands remained unchanged, but it decreased slightly in Poland (minus 0.6 points).

Sweden reported the highest confidence sentiment among EU states in December (104.5 points), followed by Denmark (97.3 points), while Romania, with 64 points, Greece (64.2 points) and Cyprus (65.2 points) occupy the last positions in the ranking.

The economic sentiment indicator rose in December by 4.1 points, to 92 points, in the EU and by 2.5 points, to 91.3 points in the euro area. It has improved in both areas for nine consecutive months since its trough in March 2009, though it still remains below its long-term average.

mediafax.ro