Poland: Coronavirus fears sap business sentiment in March
Manufacturing-sector business confidence lost ground in March, dragged down by concerns associated to the economic impact of coronavirus, according to the business tendency indicator released by Statistics Poland. March’s business climate indicator dropped to minus 1.1 from plus 1.6 in February. The indicator thus moved below the zero mark that distinguishes pessimism from optimism in the manufacturing sector.
March’s drop came on the back of a deterioration in businesses’ expectations of future conditions more than offsetting an improvement in their assessment of current conditions. Firms’ expectations regarding the future general economic situation, employment, production levels and orders books all weakened, with the latter two moving from positive to negative territory. On the flip side, firms’ assessment of the current general economic situation moved further into optimistic territory. Moreover, companies’ assessments of their order books and production levels got less gloomy, although firms’ assessments of their financial situation deteriorated.