October 7, 2014

Business confidence climbed to 54.0 points in September, according to the Central Bank’s business confidence indicator. The result marked an improvement over the 48.5 points registered in August, and, as a result, business confidence has returned to optimistic territory. Moreover, September’s gain was the largest in over five years and pushed the indicator to the highest point since April.



Businesses expressed positive sentiment regarding the outlook for the economy as a whole in the coming months, and were also more upbeat regarding the outlook for their particular sectors. Firms’ expectations in terms of demand for products and their plans for new hiring also strengthened. Businesses’ opinions about their current situation were relatively unchanged.

LatinFocus Consensus Forecast panelists expect fixed investment to grow 5.8% this year, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. For 2015, panel participants see investment growing 6.8%.