Bulgarian business climate unchanged in December 2010 – statistical institute
Bulgaria's business climate in December 2010 was largely unchanged from the previous month, the National Statistical Institute said on December 28 2010. The survey showed a slight improvement in economic conditions in the industry and services sectors but a decline in the construction industry and retail trade. The Industry Business Climate index was 0.9 points higher than in November while the Business Climate in Services index went up by 2.2 points. However, the Business Climate in Construction index was 3.8 points down and the Retail Business Climate index lost 1.1 points. The National Statistical Institute said that the improvement in the composite business climate indicator for industry was due to slightly higher optimism among managers and improved expectations for production. The main problems facing business development continued to be an uncertain economic environment and insufficient demand, while the negative impact of the uncertain economic environment was significantly above the average for the past 10 years, the institute said. The construction industry saw deeper pessimism among developers and reserved expectations about the next six months. Construction activity was down on the previous month and developers expected that it would stay at this level in the next three months. The December survey showed that the construction industry faced an increase in the number of clients who had failed to pay on time.