According to a survey by GKI Economic Research Ltd. – conducted with the support of the EU – consumers’ prospects improved noticeably in February, while those of companies remained practically unchanged compared to January. The summary indicator of the prospects, the GKI business climate index, rose by 1 point. The willingness of companies to employ weakened slightly, and the overall expectation regarding the expected development of sales prices decreased slightly. The responding companies felt that the business environment was somewhat more unpredictable in the second month of this year than in January.

GKI Business Confidence Index in February changed  compared to the previous month. The industrial confidence index increased by 2 points, and the construction index by a good 3 points. At the same time, the trade index stagnated, and the service sector index decreased by almost 4 points. Regarding the prospects for the near future, the construction industry is the least optimistic, while industry and business services are the most optimistic sectors.

The employment indicator, which indicates the aggregated staffing expectations of businesses, decreased slightly in the second month of 2026 compared to January. This indicator has fallen to a five-month low. In the next three months, 10% of businesses are preparing to increase their staff, while 11% would reduce it. In the construction industry and trade, those seeking to reduce their staff are in the majority compared to those planning to expand.

The business environment – after a significant improvement in January – adjusted slightly negatively in February. The exception to this is the industrial sector, where respondents felt the environment was much more predictable than in January.

The price indicator , which shows the expected development of companies’ selling prices over the next three months, was at a ten-month high in January, but this indicator fell slightly in February. In the next three months, 33% of companies want to raise prices, while 8% are preparing to cut prices – compared to 35% and 8% in January.

The GKI consumer confidence index reached a two-year high in February, after stagnating in January. The increase this month was primarily driven by the drastically improved perception of the country’s economic situation over the next 12 months. In addition, the population also assessed their financial situation over the past 12 months and their financial outlook for the next 12 months as improving compared to the previous month. However, their perception of their own money to spend on high-value consumer goods deteriorated slightly. The population’s inflation expectations eased, while the outlook for the expected number of unemployed people became slightly less favorable.

The data for the figures can be found in the attached Excel file.

Methodological explanation:

When calculating the business cycle index of GKI Economic Research Ltd. – in accordance with the methodology of the European Commission – it takes into account the expectations of the business sector and the population (i.e. consumers): the GKI business cycle index is the weighted average of the consumer confidence index and the business confidence index.