Consumer confidence is not as high since April 2002 – Express

The consumer confidence indicator rose in March, continuing the upward trend that has been observed since the beginning of 2013, reaching the highest level since April 2002, underlines the document published today the National Institute of Statistics (INE). “Monthly surveys Business and consumer,” referring to March 2015

The indicator’s behavior resulted “the positive contribution of all components, more expressive in the case of expectations concerning the development of unemployment “

The perception of the economic situation of the country also improved:” The balance of views on the past and future evolution of the economic situation of the country increased significantly in March, extending the respective positive movements recorded since the beginning of 2013. It should be noted though these balances reached their highest level since June and March 2000, respectively, “says the INE report.

The Portuguese consumers show also be more optimistic with regard to the expectations placed on the financial situation of your household. Instead, they are less safe maintenance of their savings. Maybe because were more confident in the positive development of purchasing durable goods (reaching the highest level since February 2007).

The surveys made to enterprises in various sectors also realize a higher level of confidence of economic agents.

The confidence indicator for the manufacturing sector shows a recovery during this month of March, due to the “positive contribution to the assessments on the trend the ‘stocks’ of finished products and the overall demand and, above all, the production prospects. “

In the construction and public works sector, the confidence indicator dregistou a sharp increase in March, “observing a recovery of opinions on order books and employment expectations, greater in the first case.”

In trade, the same indicator “recovered significantly Last month, reflecting the positive contribution of all components, especially the activity of prospects. “

Only in the services sector registers a different trend, with the confidence of its entrepreneurs fall “due to worsening expectations for demand,” as the opinions on the evolution of the order book and on the company’s activity recovered tenuously. “