Key findings The Business Confidence Index (BCI) improves and reaches 40.4 index points.
The seasonal factor has been driving a positive outlook.
Most firms are optimistic about the next three months.
The sales price expectations are outstandingly increased for the retail trade sector.
The Business Confidence Index increases and registers 40.4 on a range of [‐100; 100] points in the third quarter of this year. The BCI of 100 would have indicated that all firms in the sample reported a positive outlook. An index of zero would indicate that positive and negative views reported by firms are about equal, or alternatively in overall, firms reported no change in the current business situation, and ‐100 would indicate that all survey respondents were much less confident about different business environmental factors. Therefore, the current positive number indicates that the confidence factor among businesses is about 40 index points more positive, rather than negative or neutral.