A business and consumer survey conducted for the European Commission has shown that industrial confidence increased by eight points in Malta this month over June, compared to a three point increase in the EU.

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) also rose by 3.7 points in Malta and 3.9 points in the EU.

The Consumer Confidence Indicator, however, saw Malta shed three points as a result of small declines in expectations on the financial situation of households and the general economic situation in the next 12 months.

The report shows that the improvement in the Industrial Confidence Indicator in Malta was mainly due to an improvement in orders with manufacturing firms in Malta. Furthermore, the stock of finished goods declined, indicating that industry was increasingly selling its goods.

Manufacturing industry also reported an increase in capacity utilisation .

Malta saw a significant improvement in the estimated number of months of production assured by orders on hand in the manufacturing industry. This increased by 2.9 months to match the maximum value of 6.1 months which was registered in the April 2006 survey. In the EU, the number of months assured were 3.1. Malta achieved the third longest number of months in the EU.

Export volume expectations in manufacturing industry also showed notable improvement with the indicator swinging into positive for the first time in a year.