Skopje, 16 September 2022 (MIA) - The managers of the business entities assessed that the confidence indicator in manufacturing industry in August 2022, standing at 14.2, remained unchanged compared to July 2022 and 0.8 percentage points lower compared to August 2021, the State Statistical Office data show. The situation with the current volume of production orders in August 2022 is more favourable compared to the previous month, the expectations for the production volume for the next three months are less favourable while the stocks of finished goods are decreased. The estimation of the economic situation is more satisfactory compared to the previous month, but less satisfactory compared to August 2021. The number of employees is expected to decrease. The average capacity utilization level of the business entities in August 2022 increased to 66.1% of normal utilization. The factors that had the greatest influence on limiting the production volume in August 2022 were: shortage of skilled labour with 20.1%, insufficient foreign demand with 17.3%, uncertainty of the economic environment with 15.5% and insufficient domestic demand with 12.4%.