The Companies Survey for the first quarter of 2018 indicates that the business sector is continuing to grow impressively. The net balance in the overall business sector increased during the past two quarters to the levels reached in late 2016 and early 2017, and remains positive, to a statistically significant degree (Figure 1 and Table 1). The net balance is positive and statistically significant in the services industry; it is positive and not statistically significant in the manufacturing industry; and it is negative and not statistically significant in the trade industry.  In all three of those industries, expectations are for expansion in the next quarter.


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