A third of Basque companies believe that the economic situation will get worse

2023-11-08 12:51:53

Global uncertainty weighs heavily on the feelings of Basque businessmen. 34.1% of companies confess that the economic environment will worsen between now and the end of the year and 20% of them assure that their turnover will fall, according to the Business Confidence Study on the fourth quarter prepared by the Department of Labor Studies Kutxa, after conducting a survey of 205 companies located in the Basque Country, between September 13 and 29.

In a statement, the credit cooperative has stressed that if the indicators are added, excluding the opinion about the environment, the value of the confidence index is 49.5, a value similar to that of the previous quarter (49). The index value close to 50 indicates stagnation, and is similar to the values ​​obtained for other geographical areas of interest such as Spain (September data: 50.1) or the euro zone itself (September data: 47.2).

As highlighted by Laboral Kutxa, the Business Confidence survey shows a somewhat more pessimistic economic environment than the previous quarter. Specifically, 8.8% of companies believe that this environment will improve compared to the current quarter, 57.1% consider that it will remain the same and 34.1% consider that the environment will worsen.

Billing and employment

The companies’ forecasts in terms of billing indicate a “somewhat more optimistic” vision for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the previous one. Specifically, 27.3% of the companies surveyed consider that billing will improve, with 53.2% estimating it will be similar, compared to 19.5% believing it will worsen.

Regarding activity during the first quarter of 2024, 14.5% consider that it will improve compared to 21% who expect it to worsen. The remaining 64.4% of the sample believes that the activity will remain the same.

On the other hand, the survey indicates that 14.6% of companies consider that their investment volume will increase during the fourth quarter of 2023 and 18.5% that it will decrease. Therefore, 66.8% of those surveyed think it will be maintained.

Finally, 80% of companies consider that employment will be maintained, compared to 9.3% whose expectations include increasing the workforce and 10.7% who lean precisely the opposite.