Economic Sentiment Indicator in Romania plunges to past two decades’ low

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) in the European Union (EU) crashed by 28.8 points in April to 65.8 points, according to data released by the European Commission.

In the euro area, the ESI plunged by 27.2 points to 67.0 - where 100 is the average of the period since 2000.

This was the strongest monthly decline in the ESI on record (since 1985), surpassing by far the previous negative record from March.

In Romania, the ESI plunged steeper than the average to a lower-than-average level: namely by 34.3 points to 65.3.

Among the economic sectors, the expectations among Romanian managers in the construction sector are the worst: -40.1 points compared to -14.9 points in the EU on average. In Europe, the deepest negative sentiment is seen in the sector of services.

In industry, the balance of expectations dropped to -27.1 points in Romania (not far, but slightly better than the -30.7 average in the EU) and this is the worse score for the past two decades.

Consumers’ expectations in Romania have deteriorated sharply to -26.1 points in April from -11.1 in March and -7.5 in February. The score is not far from -22.0 average in the EU.

Romanian retailers are slightly more optimistic, although deep in the negative (pessimistic) area: -24.9 points versus -27.7 in the EU.

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