(ANSA) - BRUSSELS - The European Sentiment Indicator (ESI), an index measuring the trust of businesses and consumers, marked a fall back to levels December 2013 in Eurozone, EU Commission announced referring to data relative to August. Amongst the major countries of the Eurozone, the strongest contraction was recorded in Italy (-4.1), the Commission reported. In Germany, ESI declined by 1.9, France by 0.6, in Netherlands by 0.8, while in Spain the index remained essentially unchanged.

The overall fall of ESI in Eurozone was of -1.5 points, reaching 100.6 in August. The descent of trust was less accented in EU28 countries (-1.2 rearching 104.6), thanks to contained reductions recorded by two major economies. The decline in Great Britain was of 1.1 points, while in Poland it was one point. At the sectoral level, a greater contraction in the Eurozone been marked in retail (-2.3) followed by the consumers (-1.6) and industry (-1.5). (ANSA).