Turkey: Sectoral confidence weakens in April amid virus

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Confidence in Turkey’s services, retail trade and construction sectors deteriorated on a monthly basis in April amid concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, according to official data released on Friday.

The services confidence index posted the largest decrease this month, sliding 50.1% month-on-month to 46.1 points, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported, as fewer sector managers expected an improvement in the business situation and demand turnover compared to previous months.

Turkey's construction sector confidence index was 44.7 in April, down 42.2% from March, due to sentiment from sector leaders who expect total employment over the next three months to decline, and decrease in overall orders.

The retail trade sector index fell 26% to 75.2 in the same period, driven by rise in current volume of stocks and decrease in business activity-sales.