ATHENS — Greek economic sentiment index rose significantly March to 96.9 points from 91.9 in February, the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research IOBE said on Thursday.

IOBE said that expectations improved in all economic sectors ahead of an anticipated restart of the activities, while consumer confidence also improved significantly. The report recorded a general decline of pessimism as expectations of improvement took over helped by progress in vaccination process, plans to gradually lift restrictive measures and a restart of the economy.

More specifically, business expectations in the industrial sector showed that a negative balance of estimates over orders and demand eased mildly, along with estimates over inventories and production trends in the coming months. In the construction sector, negative estimates over production eased slightly, while estimates over employment rose slightly.

In the retail commerce, negative estimates over current sales eased markedly, while positive estimates over short-term trends fell slightly. In the services sector, negative estimates over current conditions deteriorated slightly while estimates over demand were slightly changed.

In consumer confidence, negative estimates of households over the country’s finances improved significantly, along their estimates over their finances. Intention for savings weakened while estimates over purchases improved.