Confidence in Mozambican companies rose again in the second quarter for the fourth time in a row, in part due to expectations of increased demand, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).
According to the Economic Climate Indicator (ICEE), which Lusa accessed today, “the economic climate continued to recover slightly in the second quarter” of this year.
“This favorable situation was influenced, on the one hand, by a slight increase in demand expectations, and on the other hand, by a slight increase in employment expectations in the quarter under review,” the report says.
This is the “fourth consecutive quarter” of growth in this indicator, INE notes.
ICEE collects the views of economic agents, including company managers, on the current evolution of their activities and short-term expectations, especially with regard to employment, demand, orders, prices, production, sales and activity restrictions.
The indicator reached its latest low of 82 points in the fourth quarter of 2021 and rose to a high of around 100 points in the second quarter of this year, according to INE.
“The favourable assessment of the economic climate in the quarter under review was driven by a favourable assessment of the indicator across all sectors covered by the survey, with a strong focus on the trade economic sector, which increased significantly compared to the previous quarter,” the ICEE said in a statement.
It also adds that the demand expectations indicator “continued its upward trend for the fourth consecutive quarter, with its balance reaching its highest level since the first quarter of 2020”, a behavior “mainly due to an increase in demand forecasts in the manufacturing and trade sectors, which helped to offset the decline in the indicator for the services sector.”
The employment expectations indicator “showed signs of recovery” in the second quarter “after a small drop in the previous quarter, but its corresponding balance was below the average over the past three months.”
“This increase in the indicator occurred due to the rise in prices in the services and trade sectors, despite the decline in the industrial production rate compared to the previous quarter,” the ICEE also points out.
The price expectations indicator, the INE report said, “decreased slightly again” over the same period compared with the first quarter of the year, influenced by “a significant decline in the services and trade sectors, despite an increase in prices in the industrial production business sector.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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