Figure of the day: -12%

was the level to which the business confidence index in the service sector fell in the first quarter of 2015. This is a record decline. For the year, the value of the index has fallen by 10 percentage points. These data are presented in a new Monitoring the Business Climate in Services study that was conducted by HSE ISSEK Centre for Business Tendency Studies.

The beginning of each year is traditionally a quiet time for business activity in the service sector, but this time the situation was determined not only by seasonal factors. Negative values ​​in the business confidence index (BCI) were recorded for virtually all types of services. Even a stable leader – the insurance business – is going through difficult times; in the first quarter of this year, the BCI for this area fell to a negative value (-4%) for the first time.

Entrepreneurs who offer motor vehicle maintenance and repair services, as well as advertising and tourism services, expressed the greatest pessimism. In these segments, the BCI is down more than 20 percentage points.

Source: HSE website