Slightly Better Climate For Business

The business climate indicator (BCI) for the euro area increased slightly in February by 0.12 points to +37. Management appraisal of past production, stocks of finished products and order books improved and production expectations remained stable.

No Change In Economic Sentiment

Economic sentiment (ESI) in Europe in February 2014 was largely unchanged at +0.2 in both the euro area and the wider EU. Industry confidence improved slightly (+0.4) and the increase in services confidence (+0.8) was due to a more positive assessment of the past business situation but consumer confidence deteriorated due to expectations regarding savings, unemployment and the economic future. Retail trade confidence improved overall. An improved assessment of order books improved the confidence in the construction sector but in the financial services confidence decreased by 2.5 points.

Employment plans were revised upwards in services but remained unchanged in industry. Selling prices are expected to increase in services and construction but to fall in retail and industry. Consumer price expectations were rounded down.

In the wider EU, services and retail were positive but consumer confidence declined slightly especially in the UK. Employment plans were more negative in industry than in the euro area alone but were unchanged in retail.

Business More Confident In May

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) rose in May in both zones according to the European Commission's Department of Finance and Economic Affairs. The ESI increased by 0.8% in the euro area and by 1.1% in the EU. Only construction reported a decrease with industry, services, consumer confidence and retail all reporting an increase in sentiment.

Another business and consumer confidence indicator, the Business Climate Indicator (BCI), also reported an increase in confidence. In May the BCI increased by 0.28% to -0.76%.

Business Confidence Still Below Long-Term Average

The business climate and consumer confidence surveys published by the European Commission's Department of Economic and Financial Affairs say that while the business climate has remained stable in January 2013 at -1.09, economic sentiment has increased by 1.4% in both the EU and the euro area. It is the third month in a row that economic sentiment has risen but it remains below its long-term average.

Confidence increased in the services, construction, retail and consumer confidence but decreased in industry in the EU. In the euro area it was much the same picture, but retail and industry remained unchanged.

Business Confidence Swings Back In Europe

Busines and consumer survey results from the Director General of Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission suggest that economic sentiment increased in the EU in November. The economic Sentiment Indicator increased by 2 points in the EU27 (88.1) and by 1.4 points in the euro area (85.7). The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) also increased by 0.42 points to -1.19 with increases in all of the BCIs components.

ODA Donations Second Largest In OECD

Gross public expenditure on development (GPEX) in the UK in 2010-11 amounted to £9,007m of which the DFID aid programme accounted for £7,689m. In 2009-10 the GPEX was £7,767m, an increase of 1,240m or 16%. If debt relief is excluded GPEX totalled £8,829m, an increase of £1,161m or 15% over 2009-10 total of £7,668m.

Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2010 was reported to have been £8,452m. The donation makes Britain the 2nd largest OECD-DAC donor in this category of international aid. Britain's donations amounted to an ODA/Gross National Income (GNI) ratio of 0.57%.

The largest amounts of DFID bilateral aid went to India (£279m), Ethiopia (£251m) and Pakistan (£203m). Bilateral assistance was provided to 78 countries, 36 of which received direct financial aid. The total DFID bilateral assistance to these countries amounted to £2,265m, 85% of DFID country specific bilateral aid if humanitarian aid is excluded. The countries receiving the largest amounts of bilateral aid excluding humanitarian assistance were India (£279m), Ethiopia (£245m) and Bangladesh (£171m).

DFID bilateral humanitarian assistance total for 2010-11 was £351m, a decrease of £84m from 2009-10. The countries receiving the most humanitarian assistance were Sudan (£84m), Pakistan (£83m) and the Democtratic Republic of Congo (£47m). Bilateral assistance to sub-Saharan Africa increased to £1,760m from £1,539m or 14%.

The largest share of DFID bilateral assistance went to the health sector (£830m) follwed by the government and civil society sector (£782m) and the economic sector (£750m).

DFIDs multilateral programme amounted to £3,222m in 2010-11 from £2,436m in 2009-10 an increase of 32%. The largest share of the multilateral expenditure went to the European Commission's development programme (£1,269m) follwed by the World Bank (£927m) and the United Nations (£355m).

Decline In Economic Sentiment In Euro Area

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) produced by the Economic and Financial Affairs department of the European Commission remained unchanged in the EU27 but declined by 0.6% in the euro area to 89.9. There was falling confidence in industry, services and among consumers but increasing confidence in retail trade and construction.

Sentiment improved in the UK by 1.9 points, Spain (+1) and Italy (+0.9) but got worse in France and Germany by -1.5 and -1.4 points respectively. Germany is the only country which is above its long-term average.

Consumer confidence declined slightly by 0.3 points in the EU27 and 0.5 points in the euro area. The decline is based on falling confidence and expectations about the future general economic situation and increased fears of unemployment. Consumers' expectations about their own financial situation and savings have improved.

European Business Confidence Still Low

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area fell by 0.24 to -0.52 in April 2012 according to statistics from the Director General of Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission. The decline in confidence was mainly due to a negative assessment of export order books, past production and overall order books. Managers assessments of stocks of finished products remained unchanged. While business confidence fell slightly in April the Economic Sentiment Indicator remained stable in the EU at 93.2. In the euro area in fell significantly to by 1.7 points to 92.8. The decline was mainly due to less confidence in the industry and service sectors. The retail sector improved. The more positive index in the EU27 was mainly due to improvements in the UK. Economic sentiment remains well below its long term average. A flash estimate of consumer confidence shows that consumers were less confident in April than in March. In April the indicator declined to -20.1 from -19.3 in March in the EU27 and from -19.1 to -19.8 in the euro area.

Business Confidence In Europe In November

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area from the European Commission went up again in November to 0.96 from 0.91 in October and is at its highest since December 2007. The increase is mainly due to better export order books and optimistic production expectations.

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for November also increased in both the euro area and the EU27. The main contributor to the increase was sentiment in services which increased by 2.1 to 10.2 in the euro area and 3 to 7.8 in the EU27. Most reported increases in demand and business situation over the last quarter. The ESI in the euro area was at 105.3 and in the EU27 at 105.2.

Business Confidence Unchanged In June

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) remained unchanged after 14 months of improvement. The indicator suggests that the trend will continue though some momentum may be lost. The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) was also broadly unchanged at 100.1 in the EU and 98.7 in the euro area. The BCI and the ESI data is from the European Commission Director General of Economic and Financial Affairs.

New Business Demography Figures For 2008

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has begun publishing details of business start-ups, closures and survival rates called 'Business Demography:Enterprise Births and Deaths'. The BERR is discontinuing the series, 'Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT registrations and de-registrations'. The last publication will be the 2008 update after that it will be replaced with the new ONS series. The new business demography statistics are considered more comprehensive. There are methodological differences.

The European Commission brought out a new regulation in February that requires National Statistics Institutes to produce statistics on business births, deaths and survival rates. They will produce statistics using a common methodology and definitions which will ensure greater comparability across the EU. One of the main differences is the inclusion of PAYE registered units, that is, employing businesses which are not VAT registered. It will provide a more comprehensive view of business start-up activity.

The new business demography statistics will show more business births and deaths than the BERR VAT-based statistics. The broad trend of volume and rate of births and deaths are the same but the peaks appear slightly earlier in the BERR series. Both ONS and BERR sets of statistics show differences between volumes and rates, but in both, the highest rates of births and deaths seem to be in London and lowest in Northern Ireland.

The statistics for 2008 published on Monday tell us that there were 270,000 business births in the UK in 2008, a birth rate of 11.6%. In 2007, there were 281,000 births (12.3%). That means there was a decrease of 3.7% in the number of business births. There were 'provisionally' 219,000 business seaths, a rate of 9.4% in 2008 compared with 223,000 deaths in 2007, a rate of 9.8%. There was a 1.8% decrease in the number of business deaths.

Active businesses numbered over 2.3 million in the UK during 2008, down 46,000 on 2007. The highest rate of business births was in business administration and support services with 16.2% followed by professional, scientific and technical services at 14.7% and information and communication at 14.6%. The highest overall number of business births was in professional, scientific and technical with 54,000. The highest death rate was in accomodation and food services at 13.1%, following this came finance and insurance at 11% and business administration and supprt services at 10.8%. Construction had the largest overall number of deaths at 33,000 then profesional, scientific and technical with over 32,000.

The business survival rate is based on a five-year survival rate. In 2008, the 5=year survival rate was 46.6%. Northern Ireland had the largest 5-year survival rate in the UK and London the lowest at 39.4%. Hea;lth had a survival rate of 63% and education 60.3% but hotels and catering were lowest with 34.2%.

Further details on the methodology can be obtained from the ONS website.