The Belgian National Bank announced on Monday that the economic barometer, which measures business leaders' confidence in the Belgian economy, has fallen for the third month in a row.
The 'global synthetic curve,' which gauges business leaders' overall confidence in the economy, has dropped by a point since last month, from -1.8 to -2.8, with all sectors losing confidence except manufacturing.
Sector by sector
In July, the manufacturing industry saw their business leaders gain confidence by -0.4 points, from -3.0 to -2.6.
This is due to the lowering of expected demand for their products, which was surprisingly offset by their substantial levels of stock. This meant that company executives within the industry generally had a positive outlook on the current economic situation.
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For business services, however, confidence declined from 8.5 in June to 4.4. This decline was felt in all indicators but especially among the valuation of their activities.
Business leaders in the construction industry reported a third consecutive drop in confidence, from -4.1 in June to -6.3 in July.
According to the Belgian National Bank, this is due to the fact that the number of orders received and the equipment used having not grown over time.
Finally, the overall morale within the trade industry has also fallen sharply by -5.8 points. This is due to a downturn in confidence with regards to the current employment perspectives as well as the current demand for trade.
