Turkey’s services, retail confidence up as construction sees drop
Customers are seen at a local market in Istanbul, Turkey, March 20, 2020. (DHA Photo)


Turkey’s sectoral confidence indices sent mixed signals in March, according to official data Friday. The services and retail trade sectors posted a rise in confidence, while the construction sector saw a drop, the country's statistical authority said.

Seasonally adjusted confidence indices for the services and retail trade sectors were up 5.1% and 0.2% respectively, while the construction sector posted a decrease of 4%, month-on-month in March, TurkStat said.

The index for services rose to 105.5 in March, up from 100.4 in February. Compared to the previous month, the subindices for the business situation and demand turnover over the past three months climbed 1.2% and 3.9%, respectively, while the demand turnover expectations for the next three months' subindex also rose 10.1%.

After rising to 108.9 in February, the retail trade confidence index for March was 109.2.

The construction confidence index, however, posted a decrease to 79.8, down 4% from the previous month.

"In the construction sector, total employment expectation over the next three months subindex decreased by 6.8% to 83.2," TurkStat said.

Calculated with data gathered via a monthly survey, sectoral confidence indices are evaluated within a range of 0-200. Values above 100 signal an optimistic outlook, while those below indicate a pessimistic one.