The Federation of Industry yesterday announced that it will be conducting a Services Industry Survey on a monthly basis, starting next May, in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The project falls under the Joint Harmonised Programme of EU Business and Consumer Surveys.

FOI director general Wilfred Kenely said the survey would be similar to the Industry Survey which has been running on a monthly basis since May 2004. Mr Kenely explained that the federation was awarded an EU tender in December 2006 and it would be sending the first batch of questionnaires in the beginning of May.

Mr Kenely said the survey would provide a continuous flow of information to a wide business audience, especially to senior management.

Keith Caruana from FOI gave a presentation regarding the methodology of the survey. He said the survey was based on qualitative methodology i.e. it took into consideration perceptions and expectations that were not quantified. The method used, added Mr Caruana, was consistent across all FOI business surveys.

Mr Caruana said additional questions may be put forward on a quarterly basis.

In general, the questionnaire would assess the business situation, the current level in a company’s demand, developments and expectations for employment and company’s demand and expectations for prices charged. On the other hand, the quarterly questions would focus on the main factors limiting business.

Dr Brian Portelli from PricewaterhouseCoopers said the survey’s results could be compared to the conventional statistics compiled by the National Statistics Office. He added that the information provided by the survey could be used to fill in the gaps between various NSO publications.

Dr Portelli said the regularity and high frequency of the survey would exempt it from future revisions and would further help in identifying business cycles, especially with regard to the Eurozone and the EU.

He added that similar surveys were requested by international organisations as a source of structural information.