The business confidence index elaborated by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) fell from 1.10 points in January to 0.34 points in February, thus reaching the lowest level in three months.
According to the CBS, February’s moderation was due to a deterioration in the majority of the sub-components that comprise the index.
Conversely, the consumer confidence index rose from minus 22.7 in January to minus 21.2 in February, thus reaching the highest level since June 2012. In Israel, the Business Tendency Survey measures the level of optimism that executives have about current and expected developments regarding production, sales, demand and employment.
It also assesses expectations concerning changes in the development of the USD/ ILS exchange rate and inflation. The survey is based on a sample of business executives from five economic sectors: manufacturing, construction, retail trade, hotels and services. The Business Confidence is measured on a scale of -100 to 100, where levels above 0 indicate optimism, 0 neutrality and below 0 pessimism.
