Confidence in the Turkish economy slipped month-on-month in December, official data showed Tuesday after a surge in new coronavirus cases led Ankara to impose curfews and weekend lockdowns.

The economic confidence index reached 86.4 this month, down 3.5% from 89.5 the previous month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

The index had fallen this year due to measures against the coronavirus. It recovered for six straight months as measures were eased before declining again in November.

The monthly fall was driven by deteriorations in services, retail trade and construction subindices.

Services confidence posted the largest decline by 9.2% in the same period. The reading for retail trade and construction slipped by 7.8% and 7.2%, respectively.

This December, the consumer confidence remained stable compared to last month while the real sector was the sole subindex in the positive zone, increasing 2.8%.

The index points to an optimistic outlook when above 100 and pessimistic when below.