Economic situation unchanged in spite of shifts

Although the economic situation at the end of May was the same as at the end of April, there were a number of shifts within the Business Cycle Tracer. The net result of these changes was that all improvements and downswings balanced each other out. The heart of the scatter in the Tracer is almost in the centre of the diagram. In May, eight of the fifteen indicators are still below their long-term average.

The volume of the gross domestic product (GDP) was 3.2 percent higher in the first quarter of 2011 than in the same quarter one year previously. This is the highest growth rate in three years. Taking calendar and seasonal effects into account, the economy grew by 0.9 percent in the first quarter compared to the preceding quarter.

Consumers remained unaltered gloomy in May. Confidence among manufacturers deteriorated marginally. Providers of business services were slightly less optimistic than in April.

The capital market interest rate climbed 0.3 percentage points in April and reached 3.7 percent. April’s inflation rate was 2.1 percent, slightly higher than in March. Selling prices in manufacturing industry were nearly 12 percent higher than twelve months previously. 

Seasonally adjusted unemployment dropped marginally to 392 thousand in April. The number of job vacancies and the number of hours worked in temp jobs increased further in the first quarter, but there were slightly fewer jobs of employees than in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Gross domestic product (GDP)

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.