The Economic Climate Indicator (ICE), a synthetic expression of business confidence in the real sector, continued to rise in November last year as it consolidated its rising balance for the fourth consecutive month.
This was due to positive assessments of employment prospects and demand, which increased slightly in that month.
According to a INE note, the upward trend of the ICE was due, in sectoral terms, to the continuously positive assessment of confidence in the business branches of accommodation, restaurants and similar, trade, other non-financial services, as well as the favourable assessment of confidence in the industrial production sector, which together surpassed the negative assessment of activity in the transport sector (for the second month) and construction vis-à-vis the previous month.
Over the same period, the indicator of demand expectations continued to rise for the fifth consecutive month, thus aligning with the employment outlook indicator which recorded a substantial increase, thus maintaining the favourable profile started in September.
The price outlook indicator increased slightly for the fifth consecutive month, with its balance reaching its highest level since April 2018, in line with the consumer price index, which also increased.
In the month under review, on average, 52% of the companies surveyed faced some hindrance, representing a decrease of only 10% with activity limitation compared to the previous month, a situation which is in line with the ICE which increased. The reduction in the proportion of firms with constraints was influenced by the reduction in the frequency of firms with difficulties in all target sectors of the survey.
Meanwhile, transport (64%), housing, restaurants and similar sectors (59%) and industrial production (58%) continued to have the highest share of constrained enterprises of all sectors surveyed.
