Belgium’s business confidence sharply rose in October, improving for the first time in four months, survey data from the National Bank of Belgium showed Friday.
The business confidence index rose to -4 from -6.8 in September. Economists had expected the measure to hold steady.
All four branches of activity witnessed improvement in business climate and the strengthening was more pronounced in business-related services and the manufacturing industry.
The survey also showed that the capacity utilization rate in the manufacturing industry eased to 78.7 percent in October from 79.6 percent in July. The weakening was attributed to the downturn in the business cycle over the last three months.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com