Europe's economic sentiment drops in November

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Economic confidence decreased in both the European Union and eurozone in November on a monthly basis, according to the European Commission on Friday.

This month, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) fell 3.6 points to 86.6 in the EU27 and 3.5 points to 87.6 in the eurozone, the commission said in a press release.

The eurozone/euro area or the EA19 represents member states that use the single currency – euro – while the EU27 includes all member countries of the bloc.

"After the partial recovery of sentiment between May and September and the broad sideways movement in October, the drop is the first one since sentiment fell sharply in the first COVID-19 wave," the statement noted.

Employment Expectations Indicator (EEI) saw the second monthly decline in a row, down by 3.3 points in both regions to 86.6 in the euro area and 87.2 in the EU.

The decline was stemmed from deteriorated confidence in retail trade, services and among consumers.

Confidence in industry and construction posted comparatively mild setbacks during the same period.

Among the largest euro-area economies, Italy saw the largest decrease in the ESI with minus 8.7, followed by the France (-4.8), Germany (-2.8) and Spain (-2.0).

The Netherlands bucked the trend with a moderate improvement in sentiment (1.0).

Turkey's economic confidence also posted a monthly decline in November, by 3.5% to reach 89.5, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Friday.​​​​​​​