According to the business leaders surveyed, activity in industry and construction actually increased very slightly in January. The improvement continued in the market services covered by this survey, but more unevenly across sectors, with food services and especially accommodation showing a decline.
- For February, activity is expected to increase significantly in industry and services and to be almost stable in construction.
- Recruitment difficulties remained significant and affected around half of businesses (52% in January, like in December).
- After easing off at the end of the year, supply difficulties rose again at the beginning of the year, both in industry (55% of businesses, after 53% in December) and in construction (52% of businesses, after 48% in December).
- Business leaders in industry and construction, who indicated that they were experiencing supply difficulties, were asked this month how long it would take to resolve these difficulties. Although few expect them to disappear within three months (10% in industry and 14% in construction), around three‑quarters believe they will not last more than a year.
- These supply difficulties were accompanied by increases in the prices of raw materials and finished goods. The balance of opinion on raw material prices remained very high but tended to stabilise, while the balance of opinion on finished product prices continued to rise.
After returning to its pre-crisis level over the third quarter of 2021, GDP is now expected to exceed this level by 1 percentage point in January (like in December), then by 1½ in February. If this trend were to be confirmed in March, the quarterly change in GDP could be around ½% in the first quarter.
