ANKARA

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) fell further in the EU by 2.1 points to 114.5, a European Commission statement said on Friday.

The fall was driven by a marked decline in services and, to a lesser extent, retail trade and consumer confidence, while confidence improved in industry and construction.

​​​​​​​Amongst the largest EU economies, the ESI went up only in Poland (+0.6), while confidence worsened in the Netherlands (-4.1), Germany (-2.8), France (-2.1), Italy (-1.6), and Spain (-0.8).

For the first time since last January, the Employment Expectations Indicator (EEI) also fell 1.4 points to 114.2 in the EU.

The decline was only due to worsening employment plans in services, the statement said.

"In industry, employment expectations reached a new all-time high and also in retail trade and construction, managers’ employment plans improved again slightly," it underlined.

Meanwhile, the Economic Uncertainty Indicator (EUI) rose in December (+1.1 points to 16.9), driven by rises in services and retail trade and among consumers.

"Increasing uncertainty is likely to be related to the emergence of the Omicron variant and the re-introduction of containment measures, especially hitting service sector activities and retail trade," it stressed.