According to the business leaders surveyed (approximately 8,500 companies and establishments questioned between 28 June and 5 July), activity in June was stable in industry and rose slightly in the market services covered by the survey and in construction.
- For the month of July, activity is expected to contract a little in industry and to grow at a modest rate in market services. Little change is expected in the construction industry.
- However, the outlook for each of the three major sectors is subject to considerable uncertainty.
- In this context, supply difficulties eased but were still significant in industry (affecting 59% of companies in June, down from 61% in May) and construction (52% in June compared with 55% in May).
- Recruitment difficulties rose sharply by 3 percentage points to affect 58% of companies.
- This most recent increase was observed in all sectors but was most felt in services.
- At the same time, the share of business leaders expecting to increase their selling prices fell for the second month in a row, consistent with the perception that raw material prices are rising less rapidly
After rebounding vigorously in 2021, GDP fell in the first quarter of 2022 due to the effects of the Omicron wave and the initial impacts of the war in Ukraine. After improving in April and particularly in May, GDP is expected to stabilise in June. Early indications suggest that it will be stable again in July. At this stage, we thus expect growth in GDP for the second quarter of 2022 of around ¼% compared with the previous quarter.
