IP/10/382
Brussels, 29 March 2010
March 2010: Business Climate Indicator further improves
In March, the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area improved further - marking one year of uninterrupted recovery. The rebound of the indicator suggests that economic activity in the industry sector will continue to recover in the coming months, although it has still some way to go to reach its pre-crisis level. Managers in industry were upbeat about their order books and production expectations. They were even more positive about their export order books and production trend observed in recent months. Regarding stocks, they thought that the level was lower than desirable.
The BCI is based on a factor analysis of the euro area aggregate balances (seasonally adjusted) of five of the monthly questions in the industry survey (only employment and selling-price expectations are excluded).
Full details of the Business Climate Indicator are available on the Europa website:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/db_indicators/surveys/index_en.htm
The next BCI Results are due to be published on 29 April 2010.
