BERLIN, July 25 (Xinhua) -- German business confidence has declined again slightly in July, the Business Climate Index published on Wednesday by the Institute for Economic Research (Ifo) showed.
The closely-watched index compiled by the Munich-based institute fell for the seventh month in a row from 101.8 points in June to 101.7 points in July.
While German managers polled by Ifo were slightly more content with their current commercial situation than during the previous month, they downgraded their assessments of future prospects.
According to Ifo, the latest data provides further evidence of slowing momentum in the Eurozone's largest economy. However, sectoral data provided in the index showed that business confidence in July varied significantly across industries.
The business climate index for the manufacturing industry fell for the sixth month in a row as the survey findings point to a sharp deterioration of industry sentiment compared to previous months. Germany's retail sector is voicing growing concerns about the development of sales in the coming months.
By contrast, the indices for the German service- and construction sectors both rose markedly as firms reacted to growing consumer demand for their products.
The construction industry indicator hereby rose to a new record high and experienced the biggest monthly improvement in sectoral business sentiment ever measured by Ifo.
The operations of German construction firms are largely focused on their home market which makes them less exposed to risks posed by new protectionist policies announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The risk of resulting a trade war between the U.S. and EU has weighed heavily on the business confidence of the Germany's export-oriented manufacturing industry.
Citing potential damage caused by U.S. import tariffs, Ifo has recently lowered its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Germany from 2.6 percent to 1.8 percent in 2018. The institute also revised its outlook for 2019 down from 2.1 percent to 1.8 percent.
