Manufacturing: Business Perspectives Improve

The business climate indicator in manufacturing continued to rise in December and has now climbed to above its long-term average. Companies were no longer sceptical about future developments. Production plans and export expectations were more strongly oriented towards expansion. Firms, by contrast, were slightly less satisfied with their current business situation than recently. Against a background of falling demand, production was scaled back. Assessments of order and stocks of finished goods hardly changed from last month.