Despite general perception of growth in turnover and profitability, as suggested by recent corporate results, business sentiment dipped by 9 percent over the past six months due to growing concerns related to energy shortages, worsening security and inflation.
This was revealed in the 6th Wave Business Confidence Index (BCI) survey undertaken by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) between June and August 2012. The survey is largely attitudinal and carried out bi-annually to evaluate business sentiment.
Compared to the 5th Wave BCI survey, recent results show a further decline from negative 25 to negative 34 percent. The sharp drop in business confidence is led mainly by poor sentiments of the retail sector where the BCI score went down from negative 29 to negative 48 percent and of the manufacturing sector which also declined significantly from negative 23 to negative 37 percent.
This decline was partially offset by the relatively positive outlook of the service sector where BCI improved by 7 percent from negative 24 to negative 17 percent. Apart from increase in negativity, the 6th Wave also records a shift in opinion of respondents from positive to neutral zone, reflected in the decline of the overall business confidence score. Interpreting the feedback, it appears that business people have now lowered their expectations from the authorities.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed.