Business updates

The MCCI released its Business Confidence Indicator for the 2^nd quarter of 2017 on Monday 31 July 2017.

The index registered an increase of 3.4 percent (3.5 percentage points) to settle at 105.9 points. This increase comes after two successively favourable quarters in the business climate.

The index remains firmly in the dynamic territory, above the long-term average.  

At the sectoral level, we notice a general increase in confidence indices in the second quarter of 2017, similar to the last quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017. The manufacturing sector recorded the largest increase in the sectoral indicator, at 3.6 percent. For the services sector, the index rose by 3.5 percent while for the commerce sector, we notice a slightly lower increase in the confidence indicator of 3.1 percent.

Taking into account the economic developments during the first six months of this year, and assuming that this trend continues over the next two quarters, we estimate that the economic growth could reach 3.8 per cent for the year 2017, all other things being equal.

The full report can be accessed here.