2018 Q4 Free Zones World Economic Barometer

The results of the 2018Q4 round, conducted in the second half of November, suggest that economic conditions in free zones worldwide have improved compared with the previous quarter. Half of the free zones regard their current economic situation as good, up from 32 percent in 2018Q3, and followed by 44 percent that consider the current activity normal. Only 6 percent experience poor conditions. This translates into an F-WEB Economic Conditions Index of 44. While this is a considerable improvement compared to the situation last quarter where the indicator value was 25, it is still below the level in the first half of the year. Despite the improvement in current economic conditions, the outlook for the next three months has deteriorated. The F-WEB indicator dropped from a stable 64 over the past six months to 44 in 2018Q4.