The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) said Monday its monthly business
survey revealed business confidence was nearly unchanged in April compared to March, remaining moderately
pessimistic overall.
According to the survey, the indicator, measuring the Belgian business
leaders’ confidence, slipped to -7.8 in April from -7.6 in the prior month. That
marked the first deterioration in business sentiment after four straight months
of improvement.
Economists had predicted the indicator to rise to -5.8 in April.
The largest loss of confidence occurred in the manufacturing industry (-1.3
points m-o-m to -12.1 in April) as deteriorated assessment of orders books and
employment expectations overshadowed a more favorable assessment of stock
levels and a slightly better demand outlook. In addition, the business climate in the
building industry worsened marginally (-0.4 point m-o-m to -5.4), as a trend in
orders worsened but an assessment of them was more positive and demand
expectations strengthened. Meanwhile, business confidence in trade saw the strongest
improvement (+5.7 points m-o-m to -15.9), underpinned by an upward revision in employment
expectations and intentions of placing orders. The business climate in business-related
services (+3.0 points m-o-m to 11.4) also witnessed an uptick in April as both
the assessment of activity levels and market demand expectations improved.