Business confidence in Cape Verde continues to improve, registering the highest quarterly value in 16 quarters, the country’s National Statistics Bureau reports.

“The economic growth rate continues to accelerate in the third quarter of 2016, with a positive evolution compared to the same quarter last year. The economic outlook is favourable,” according to the bureau, known by the Portuguese acronym INE.

The confidence index, called the economic climate indicator, has been in negative territory since 2012 but has now reached 0. The index is based on the views of businesspeople from the construction, trade, tourism, manufacturing and transportation sectors.