Bulgaria's January business sentiment index fell by 3.2 percentage points from the previous month after edging up by 0.7 percentage points in December, the National Statistics Institute (NSI) said.
In January, the industrial sub-index decreased by 1.9 percentage points on the month due to the managers' more moderate assessment of the current business situation, the NSI said in a statement.
The sub-index in construction remained unchanged from December. Although the managers were more pessimistic in their perception of the current business situation in the sector, their forecasts about the next three months were more positive.
The retail sub-index dropped by 12.2 percentage points on the month in January as a result of a shift in retailers' sentiment and expectations from ‘better' to ‘same'. The uncertain economic situation remained the main problem for the retail business.
The business climate gauge in the services sector remained almost unchanged in January.
Overall, the managers participating in the survey said they do not expect a hike in prices over the next three months.