Economic sentiment falls significantly in both the EU and the euro area

Article created on 30 October 2008

In both regions, the ESI recorded its largest month-on-month decline ever to hit its lowest level since 1993.

In both the EU and the euro area, confidence fell considerably across all sectors. Consumer confidence reached its lowest level in close to fifteen years. The services confidence indicator recorded its lowest level since the introduction of the survey twelve years ago. Even though both the industry and construction confidence indicators also slipped significantly in October, they still stand clearly above the lows recorded in 1992 and 1993, respectively.

All countries reported a fall in their ESI. Among the large Member States, confidence deteriorated most markedly in the Netherlands (-11.3), followed by France (-6.5), Italy (-6.1), the UK (-5.7), Poland (-5.1), Germany (-4.8) and Spain (-3.5). The ESI stands clearly below its long-term average in all these countries apart from Poland.