Ljubljana - Business sentiment in Slovenia deteriorated by 1.7 percentage points in July over June, and by 7.2 points year-on-year to -1.1 percentage points. The change was mostly driven by worse consumer confidence, which declined by 1.1 points in a month, the Statistics Office said on Friday.

Compared with the month before, the services confidence indicator dropped by 0.5 points, with the manufacturing and construction industries also recording a 0.1 percentage point drop. Meanwhile, the sentiment was up in the retail industry by 0.1 point.

Year-on-year, the business sentiment decline is due to confidence deteriorating in manufacturing, and construction, down by 4.6 and 0.1 points respectively), and lower customer confidence (down by 4.3 points).

A more upbeat trend was present in the services sector, and retail, where confidence indicators grew by 1.2 and 0.6 points respectively.

In a separate business opinion survey report, the Statistics Office said that the indicator exhibited a negative monthly trend in construction (-2 points), manufacturing (-1 point), and the services sector (-2 points), while it improved in retail (+2 points).

Year-on-year, the report showed a 12-point decline in manufacturing, now a point below a long-time average, mainly due to a drop in joint procurement and longer manufacturing periods, while construction recorded a 3-point drop. Nevertheless, this is still a 26-point rise compared to the long-time average with construction not losing employment prospects compared to 2021.

Meanwhile, the services sector recorded a boost of 4 percentage points over July 2021, up by 6 points compared to the long-time average, while demand dropped by seven points compared to last month.

Retail showed a marked year-on-year improvement, gaining 11 points, now 14 points up compared to the long time average. This is because stock levels have improved, by 11 points, the Statistics Office noted.