The sub-index measuring business sentiment in manufacturing was up by 1.4 percentage points at the monthly level, while other sub-indices had no major influence.

The index in manufacturing was boosted by the optimistic expectations in the fields expected production and total orders, while the value of the index related to inventories of final product remained unchanged.

Like in the first quarter, companies also pointed to shortage of workforce as the main limiting factor for production in the second quarter, followed by the insufficient domestic and foreign demand.

In retail, the business sentiment index was down somewhat in July at the monthly level, while it was higher year-on-year and compared to the long-term average.

Most retail companies singled out competition in the sector as the main limiting factor, while some also mentioned high labour costs and low demand.

Shortage of skilled workforce is also being reported in the construction sector, where the business sentiment index was down by three percentage points in July at the monthly level, staying well below the value from July 2018.

The other limiting factors in the sector were strong competition and high labour costs.

The business sentiment index in the services sector was flat in July to stay slightly below its value in July 2018. Most of the companies in the sector had problems with low demand, followed by shortage of workforce and financial restraints.

Year-on-year, the business sentiment index was down in July by 3.7 percentage points, but it was still well above the long-term average. The drop of the index for the manufacturing sector (down 2.1 percentage points) had the biggest impact.