DECRYPTION – Despite the risks, business leaders have shown great resilience for the past year. Household morale, on the other hand, collapsed.
It is an astonishing dichotomy, which is confirmed month after month. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the majority of business leaders have remained confident, despite inflation, the energy crisis, supply difficulties… Thus the business climate for February, an INSEE indicator obtained by summarizing business leader responses, has improved slightly. At 103, it is three points above its long-term average. By comparison, at the start of the health crisis, it had plunged below 50. In early 2009, at the height of the financial crisis, it was down to 70.
In February, the climate improved in all sectors except construction. Surveys even reveal a certain optimism about the future. Manufacturers thus note an improvement in supply difficulties and a good trend in order books. This confidence was not acquired. At the beginning of the fall, disaster scenarios of factory closures were circulating…