In July 2020, there was an improvement in both current and future consumer sentiment moods compared to the previous month. The current consumer confidence indi-cator, synthetically describing the current trends in indi-vidual consumption, was -13.4a which was by 6.0 p.p. higher in relation to last month.

In July general business climate indicator is less negative than in June in most of presented kinds of activities. In information and communication sector it is even slightly positive, whereas the most pessimistic assessments are reported by companies operating in the field of accommodation and food service activities. Improvement is observed both in assessments (“diagnosis”) and expectations (“forecast”).

In June 2020 retail sales1 at constant prices were by 1.3% lower than the year before (against a growth of 3.7% in June 2019). Compared with May 2020 retail sales increased by 8.4%. In the period of January-June2 2020 retail sales y/y were by 5.2% lower (against a growth of 6.2% in 2019).

According to preliminary data construction and assembly production (in constant prices) carried out domestically by construction enterprises employing more than 9 persons was in June 2020 by 2.4% lower than a year before (against an decrease by 0.7% the year before) and by 12.5% higher compared with May 2020 (against an increase by 9.3% the year before).

In the first half of 2020, there were more dwellings completed than the year before. The number of dwellings for which permits have been granted or which have been registered with a construction project and the number of dwellings in which construction has begun decreased.

According to preliminary data in June 2020 the prices of construction and assembly production in comparison with the corresponding month of the previous year were higher by 2.6% and in comparison with May 2020 - by 0.3%.