Managers expect relative stability in industry, retail and services until February 2019

Activity in industry, retail and services will record a relative stability in the next three months, while prices will moderately grow in industry and constructions, according to the Romanian managers' expectations for December 2018-February 2019.

According to the conjunctural survey published on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the number of employees in industry and services will also remain relatively stable.

Thus, the managers in the processing industry estimate a relative stability in the next three months of the production volume (conjunctural balance - 5%). Among the activities expected to drop are the production of tobacco products, which is expected to plummet the most (conjunctural balance - 33%). In what concerns the number of employees, the managers expect a relative stability with a conjunctural balance of -2% per overall processing industry.

The prices for the industrial products are expected to moderately grow in the next three months (conjunctural balance +10%).

According to estimates in December 2018, the construction activity will also record a drop in the production volume (conjunctural balance -29%) in the next three months. The managers estimate a drop in the number of employees too (conjunctural balance - 17%). In respect to the prices for construction works, estimates point to a moderate growth (conjunctural balance +11%).

In the retail sector, managers estimates a relative stability in the economic activity in the next three months (conjunctural balance +1%). The volume of orders to suppliers of merchandise by the commercial units will have a moderate drop (conjunctural balance -6%).

The employers estimate an increase in the number of employees in the next three months (conjunctural balance +18%). For the next period, the companies' managers estimate an increase in the retail price (conjunctural balance +18%).

According to the December 2018 estimates, the demand for services (turnover) will see a relative stability in the next three months (conjunctural balance +2%). In the services sector they estimate a relative stability in the number of employees (conjunctural balance +0%). According to the managers' opinion, the sale or invoice prices of the services will see a relative stability (conjunctural balance +3%).

INS specifies that the conjunctural balance shows the managers' perception of the dynamics of a phenomenon that must not be mistaken for the growth pace or the drop of any statistical indications produced by the INS. The percentage conjunctural balance results as the difference between the percentage of managers who chose the positive version of the phenomenon and the percentage of those who indicated the negative version. AGERPRES (RO - author: George Banciulea, editor: Oana Tilica; EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)