The indicator of economic sentiment in Ukraine, calculated by the State Statistics Service, in the third quarter of 2018 was 109.6% compared with 104% and 108.8% respectively in the second and first quarters of this year.

According to the service, three out of the five indicators of business confidence improved: in retail trade (from 5.3% in the second quarter to 10.7%), in services (from minus 5% to 0.3%), and in construction (from minus 21.5% to minus 18.7%).

At the same time, consumer confidence (from minus 27.1% to minus 29.1%) and business confidence in processing industry (from minus 3.9% to minus 4.8%) worsened.

The agency said that in the third quarter of 2017, the indicator of economic sentiment was 103.9%, but in the fourth quarter it dropped to 100.4%.

The indicator is calculated according to the methodology for calculating business expectations indicators in accordance with the requirements of the expanded International Monetary Fund Special Data Dissemination Standard, updated by the State Statistics Service in December 2017.

The indicators of business confidence, depending on the sector, are estimated on the basis of surveys on the current level of orders and finished goods stocks, changes in sales volumes for the last three months, forecast of changes in production/sales and the number of employees in the next three months.

The State Statistics Service calculates the indicator of consumer confidence using the data of such a study of GfK Ukraine.