Sectoral confidence in Turkey largely flat in December

By Fatih Erkan Dogan

ANKARA (AA) – Confidence in Turkey’s retail trade and construction sectors advanced slightly in December while the services sector slipped, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Monday.

The retail trade confidence index was 96.1 points in the month, up only 0.1 percent from previous month as managers in the sector saw business activity-sales and current volume of stock substantially unchanged.

Turkey's construction sector confidence index also saw a slight increase of 0.5 percent to 76.1 points from 75.7 in November due to sentiment from sector leaders who expect total employment over the next three months to advance, despite overall orders decreasing.

The services sector was the only one which slipped in December, declining by 3.5 percent to 93.35 as fewer sector managers expected an improvement in the business situation and demand turnover compared to previous months.