In August, the confidence of Slovak entrepreneurs and consumers was the lowest in the last 17 months

The overall economic mood in Slovakia has worsened significantly for the third consecutive month. The aggregate seasonally adjusted indicator of economic sentiment (ESI) decreased by 5.9 points month-on-month to a value of 90.9 points in August.

All sectors experienced a decline in confidence, while services experiencing the largest decline. The consumer atmosphere also continued to deteriorate slightly.

The current ESI value was also more pessimistic compared to the corresponding period last year, when it dropped by 8.3 points. The lag behind the long-term average also increased. While in July it was by 5.7 points, in August it fell behind the long-term average by 11.6 points.

The ESI value represents the weighted arithmetic average of five sub-indicators of confidence, the biggest influence is the confidence indicator in industry (40%), followed by the confidence indicator in services (30%), in construction (5%), in trade (5%) and the consumer confidence indicator (20%). The survey is coordinated by the European Commission and has the same methodology in all EU member states. Details on the five partial confidence indicators are provided in a separate informative report.