Seasonally adjusted confidence index decreased by 9.2 percent in the services sector, 7.8 percent in the retail trade sector, and 7.2 percent in the construction sector in December on monthly basis, according to the Sectoral Confidence Indices data, released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Friday.
Sectoral confidence indices can take values between 0 and 200. It indicates an optimistic outlook when the index is above 100, but it indicates a pessimistic outlook when it is below 100.
The seasonally adjusted confidence index which was 77.5 for services in November decreased by 9.2 percent in December to 70.4. In the services sector compared to the previous month, the business situation over the past three months sub-index decreased by 11.2 percent to 66.4. Demand-turnover over the past three months sub-index decreased by 9.8 percent to 64.9 and demand-turnover expectation over the next three months sub-index decreased by 7.1 percent to 79.8.
The seasonally adjusted retail trade confidence index decreased by 7.8 percent in December to 87.6. In the retail trade sector compared to the previous month, business activity-sales over the past three months sub-index decreased by 14.4 percent to 73.0. The current volume of stock sub-index decreased by 1.1 percent to 107.8 and business activity-sales expectation over the next three months sub-index decreased by 9.6 percent to 81.9.
The seasonally adjusted construction confidence index which was 79.0 in the previous month decreased by 7.2 percent in December to 73.3. In the construction sector compared to the previous month, the current overall order books sub-index became 56.7 by decreasing 9.5 percent. Total employment expectation over the next three months sub-index decreased by 5.7 percent to 90.0.
In the construction sector, 72.6 percent of the enterprises indicated at least one factor limiting their activities while 27.4 percent of the enterprises indicated none in December. Among the main factors limiting activities in the construction sector; "financial constraints" which was 42.7 percent in November realized as 41.2 percent in December, "insufficient demand" which was 34.2 percent in November realized as 37.2 percent in December, and "other factors" which was 15.3 percent in November realized as 23.1 percent in December.