ifo Business Climate Saxony Improves Marginally (February 2021)
The ifo Business Climate Index Saxony rose slightly in February 2021. The barometer of business sentiment climbed from 90.6 to 90.8 points. Compared to the previous month, the business expectations of the companies surveyed improved a little. However, their assessments of the current situation declined somewhat.
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In Saxony’s manufacturing, there was a clear uptick in sentiment once again. The outlook for the coming six months was appreciably better, and assessments of the current situation were also somewhat more positive.
In Saxony’s service sector, the Business Climate Index saw a small increase in February. The companies surveyed were moderately more satisfied with their current business, while their business expectations for the coming months were more or less unchanged.
In Saxony’s trade, the business climate has cooled down a bit, a change largely attributable to the retail sector’s latest nosedive in mood. In wholesale, however, the business climate brightened.
In Saxony’s construction industry, the Business Climate Index fell slightly. Expectations for the coming six months were somewhat gloomier. Assessments of the current situation improved marginally.
Joachim Ragnitz and Marcel Thum
Executive Directors, Dresden Branch of the ifo Institute
ifo Business Climate Saxony
(Index, 2015 = 100, seasonally adjusted)
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Source: ifo Business Survey.
© ifo Institute
ifo Business Climate Saxony by Sector
(Balances, seasonally adjusted)
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Source: ifo Business Survey.
© ifo Institute
The ifo Business Climate for Saxony is based on approx. 500 monthly survey responses from businesses in manufacturing, the service sector, trade, and construction. Companies are asked to give their assessments of the current business situation and their expectations for the next six months. They can describe their situation as “good,” “satisfactory,” or “poor” and their business expectations for the next six months as “more favorable,” “unchanged,” or “less favorable.” The balance value of the current business situation is the difference in the percentage shares of the responses “good” and “poor”; the balance value of the expectations is the difference in the percentage shares of the responses “more favorable” and “less favorable.” The business climate is a transformed mean of the balances of the business situation and the expectations. To calculate the index values, the transformed balances are all normalized to the average for the year 2015.
