Businesses and consumers both in the European Union (EU) and the euro zone were slightly less optimistic about the economy in December, the European Commission said on Friday.

The economic sentiment indicator (ESI) in the EU and the euro zone both decreased in December by 0.2 points from the previous month, standing at 112.9 and 110.1 respectively.

But the European Commission said the indicators remained broadly stable since they were still well above the long-term average.

In both areas, sentiment has been on an upward trend since mid-2005, climbing to its highest level since the beginning of 2001 in recent months.

The monthly economic sentiment indicator, based on business and consumer surveys, reflects general economic activity of the EU and the euro zone.

The surveys are conducted in different sectors of the economy: industry, services, construction and retail trade as well as consumers.

For the EU members excluding the two new comers Bulgaria and Romania, sentiment in the services sector improved, but confidence in the retail trade sector recorded a sharp decline, while confidence among industrials, builders and consumers remained unchanged.

The sector developments were somewhat different for the euro zone. For the bloc sharing the same currency, the indicator for industry and services remained unchanged, while that for consumers increased and those for the retail trade and construction sectors decreased. Since Slovenia joined the euro zone on Jan. 1, 2007, it was not included in the figures of last year.

Among the large member states, biggest improvement of confidence was registered in Poland, while the indicator decreased in France by 2 points and in Germany by 0.3 points. It remained stable in the United Kingdom.

Source: Xinhua