Brussels, 30/08/2011 (Agence Europe) - In August, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) fell; further, figures published by the European Commission on Tuesday 30 August reveal: the ESI dropped by 5.0 points to 97.3 in the EU and by 4.7 points to 98.3 in the euro area. Among the largest member states, Germany (down 5.7 points) and the UK (down 5.6) reported the strongest decreases in sentiment, followed by Poland (-3.6) and the Netherlands (-3.0) while the ESI remained broadly unchanged in Italy (-0.7) and Spain (-0.3). The decline in economic sentiment resulted from a broad-based deterioration in sentiment across the sectors, with losses in confidence being particularly marked in services (-7.5 in the EU and -4.2 in the euro area), the retail trade (-5.89 and -5.1 respectively) and among consumers (-4.4 in the EU and -5.3 in the euro area).
A second series of figures, also published by the Commission on Tuesday, reveals a further drop in the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area, which fell for the consecutive sixth month in August to stand at 0.07 of a point. This compares with 0.45 in July and 0.95 in June. The BCI has been dropping since March. “The current level of the indicator remains positive, but the steady fall observed since March suggests that euro area industry has entered a phase of growth moderation”, the Commission says. The drop reflects pessimism among managers about overall order books and export order books, according to the Commission. These developments went along with a worsening in both production expectations and in the assessment of production trends observed in recent months. (O.L./transl.rt)