Turkey: Sectoral confidence slips in August

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA

Confidence in Turkey’s services, retail trade construction sectors slipped in August, compared to last month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Monday.

The retail trade confidence index was 93.4 points in the month, down 4 percent from July as managers in the sector expecting an improvement in business activity-sales over the next three months.

"The number of managers evaluating improved 'business activity-sales' over the past three months and 'current volume of stock' as below normal for the season increased," TurkStat said.

The services sector index declined by 4.2 percent to 88 in August from 91.9 last month, as fewer sector managers evaluated a recovery in the business situation and demand turnover compared to previous months.

Turkey's construction sector confidence index also saw a decrease of 10.7 percent month-on-month to 77.1 points.

"This drop in the construction confidence index stemmed from the decreased number of managers evaluating 'current overall order books' as above normal for the season and expecting an increase in 'total employment' over the next three months," TurkStat said.