Business morale keeps improving

The business confidence index increased from 104.1 in January to 106.9 in February, marking an uninterrupted rise in the confidence for the fifth straight month since September 2019, data from the Central Bank have shown.

The 100-point level on the index separates optimism from pessimism.

Six of the business sentiment survey's eight main sub-indices exhibited month-on-month increases, according to the Central Bank data.

The sharpest increase was registered in the sub-index measuring businesses' expectations for total employment in the next three months. The related index jumped 9 percent on a monthly basis, suggesting that the participants of the survey anticipate an increase in employment.

Survey participants also said that they expect production volume to increase in the next three months while the sub-index measuring expectations for total orders over the same period increased by 1 percent in February from January.

The index measuring companies' assessment of the general business situation declined by 5 percent in February from January to 103.4, but still remains above the 100-point threshold.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, the real sector confidence index inched up to 106.7 in the second month of the year from 106.4 in January, data also showed.

That followed the 2 percent month-on-month decline in the headline confidence index in the first month of 2020.

However, separate business data offered a rather mixed picture on a sectoral basis.

The Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) reported on Feb. 24 that confidence in the country's key service sectors improved while construction and retail trade fell on a monthly basis in February.

The services confidence index rose 3.4 percent month-on-month...