29/11/2011
By Adam Cadle
Economic sentiment has declined again with France experiencing the biggest decrease in economic confidence, latest figures from the European Commission have revealed.
Statistics for November show that the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) dropped by 1.0 points in the EU from 93.8 points to 92.8 points. In addition, for the euro area, figures fell from 94.8 points in October to 93.7 points this month. France experienced the biggest decrease with confidence falling from 96.9 points to 93.2 points. Dutch ESI declined from 91.5 to 89.7 points and the UK economic confidence fell from 89.5 to 88.9 points.
Consumer confidence deteriorated by 0.5 points in both the EU (-20.2 to -20.7) and euro area (-19.9 to -20.4) due to growing unemployment fears. There was however an improvement in confidence in financial services due to managers’ improved assessment of recent developments in business situation and demand. The EU witnessed a rise of +4.0 points, from -8.7 to -4.7, and the euro area experienced a rise from -15.8 points to -10.9 points.