Albania’s economic sentiment index (ESI) increased by 0.9 percentage points (pp) in February, following a slight drop of 0.8 pp in January, to around 7 percentage points (pp) above the long-term average, the central bank said on Monday.

The slight increase reflected improved confidence in industry, trade, and consumer sentiment, the Bank of Albania said in a monthly business and consumer confidence survey.

The industry confidence index increased by 1.1 pp in February, to stand 4 pp above the historic average.

The industry confidence index increased this month as businesses operating in this sector improved their assessments of current industrial production, coupled with more optimistic expectations on future orders from exports. Expectations on selling prices in the future have been revised up compared to the previous month

The trade confidence indicator rose by 3.2 pp in the month under review, whereas the consumer confidence index by 2 pp.

The current level of trade confidence indicator stands around 7.5 percentage points above the historical average. The trade confidence indicator ticked up as trade-related businesses reported more positive appraisals on both the current performance of their business and expectations on the employment level in the future. While, their expectations on their future prices have been assessed downwards in February.

Meanwhile, the current level of CCI stands around 1 pp above the historical average. All composing components of CCI provided increasing contributions. Consumers reported higher current assessment and expectations on major purchases in February 2025, in addition to reporting more optimistic views regarding expectations on both their financial situation and the general economic situation in Albania. Consumers’ expectations of unemployment and prices in the future edged down in February 2025.

Whereas, indicators of construction and services fell by 2.1 pp and 1.4 pp, respectively. The construction indicator continues to stand above the historical average, by around 13 pps. The less optimistic appraisals of businesses about the current construction activity drove the indicator to decline. In February 2025, businesses operating in construction decreased the expectations of employment. Also, expectations on future prices were reported on the downside.

On the other hand, despite fluctuations in past months, the current level of service indicator stands around 11 pps above the historical average. The service indicator went down as views of businesses operating in this sector on the current level of demand appeared less optimistic.