KOF Economic Barometer at a historical high
The KOF Economic Barometer rises in April for the second month in a row by about 15 points. It thus surpasses its previous historical high, which it reached in the recovery after the financial crisis in the first months of the year 2010. Unless the virus takes another volte, economic development is likely to get a strong boost in the near future.
The KOF Economic Barometer climbs by 16.0 points in April from 118.0 in March (revised from 117.8) to now 134.0 points. As in the previous month, manufacturing leads the positive development in April. It is therefore coming back with a force and is benefiting from more favourable international demand. But the outlook for other services, financial and insurance services and consumer demand also brightens considerably. The outlook for construction is slightly more favourable than in the previous month. Only the accommodation and food service activities cannot keep pace, with the indicators showing hardly any change overall.
In the goods production sector (manufacturing and construction), the indicators for the general business situation, intermediate product purchases and the development of order backlogs and production in particular are rising. In contrast, the development of competitiveness is fading slightly.
For all sub-sectors of the goods production sector, the bundled indicators are above their respective long-term averages. In April, in particular the indicators for the metal and electrical industries as well as for the wood, glass, stone and earth industry increased.
Data and Graphs
The full press release can be found Downloadhere (PDF, 812 KB).
The data and graphs concerning the KOF Economic Barometer can be found here.
Contact
KOF Konjunkturforschungsstelle
Leonhardstrasse 21
8092
Zürich
Switzerland