Confidence in the economy is increasing, Bank of Albania: Construction, trade and consumption had a positive impact, housing prices are expected to rise again

Confidence in the Albanian economy continues to be in a positive trend. Construction businesses are confident that housing prices will continue to rise in 2023. While traders expect a reduction in their production costs this year. The indicators of economic sentiment for the month of February 2023 recorded the value of 106.7, maintaining the level of the previous month, but being in a positive increase, compared to the end of 2022. This positive confidence in the Albanian economy has been inspired by the construction sector, trade , production and consumer confidence. The slowdown in growth was driven by the services sector. The Bank of Albania, in the report published yesterday, shows that the confidence in the industry has increased by 2.2% in February, influenced by the positive evaluations for customer contracts, both domestic and exports. Compared to the historical average, the level of the indicator is about 5.2 percentage points higher. Businesses appreciate the slight increase in industrial production. The construction confidence indicator registered strong growth of 6.2 percentage points in February. Its level remains significantly above the historical average, by about 24 percentage points. The increase in this month was influenced by both the higher estimate for current business activity and orders. Construction businesses expect their prices to increase in the future. Confidence in trade also increased by 0.9%. Traders rated their business performance highly. Expectations for future prices and employment were downgraded. Consumers also have more confidence in the economy. The consumer confidence indicator continued to improve for the fifth month in a row, moving closer to its historical average.