Encuesta de Opinión Empresarial. Resultados enero de 2023

Abstract

In January 2023, the Retail Confidence Index (RCI) stood at 29,6%, which represents an improvement of 7.2 pp compared to the previous month (RCI December 2022: 22.6%). The greater dynamic of this index was mainly explained by the optimism in business expectations for the next six months (14.9 pp) and the reduction of 9.6 pp in the business level of stocks. However, there is still a negative sentiment about business current situation which decreased by 2.9 pp. This result shows a recovery in the confidence of traders, a behavior that has been observed since November 2022.

On the other hand, the Industrial Confidence Index (ICI) stood at 3.6% in January 2023 (4.9 pp higher than the previous month) after a semester of negative variations in the indicator (except for November 2022). The index variation was given by the increase of 21.2 pp in the expected production for the next three months and from companies in the sector. Nevertheless, the current volume of orders fell by 5.4 pp and the business level of stocks increased in 1,2 pp.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the value exported in dollars, export orders, the profitability of export activity and the three-month expectations of the value exported in dollars were increased by about 16.4 pp, 13,6 pp, 11.1 pp and 0.8 pp compared to the previous quarter.