Business Sentiment February 2012 - Sentiment

Following a sharp decline in Q4 2011, confidence in the overall environment recovered to -16 from -28. The index for the three-month outlook rose to -11 from -29. As has been the case throughout the history of the series, CEO's assessment of their own company outlook is more positive than the sentiment for the overall business environment. The index of the current situation rose to +16 in Q1 from +4 and the forward-looking index improved to +18 from a negative reading of -3 in the previous quarter.

Exporters in particular are confident about the outlook for their businesses and the three-month outlook rose to +29 from +19, while the index for export sales increased to +43 from +29 at the end of 2011. The positive performance is now translating to hiring intentions and 30% of exporting companies plan on increasing staff numbers in the coming three months.