IP/06/5
Brussels, 5th January 2006
December 2005: Business Climate Indicator for the euro area improves significantly The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area rose significantly in December after a small decline in November. The BCI has been above its long term average since September 2005 and it is now close to the relatively high levels that prevailed one year ago. The positive development of the BCI in December was reflected in all underlying components. The improvement in the opinions of industry managers was particularly marked for production in recent months. The increase in confidence was also supported by improvements in total order books, export order books and production expectations, while the assessment of stocks of finished products improved more moderately.
[Graphic in PDF & Word format]The BCI is based on a factor analysis of the euro area aggregate balances (seasonally adjusted) of five of the monthly questions in the industry survey (only employment and selling-price expectations are excluded).
[Graphic in PDF & Word format] Full details of the Business Climate Indicator are available on the Europa website:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/indicators/businessclimate_en.htm
The next BCI Results are due to be published on 31 January 2006.
