THE ECONOMY
ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE WANES
Economic sentiment remains cautious as uncertainty continues to curb optimism
Corporate sentiment remained subdued in October with executives expressing greater caution about the country’s economic prospects: half of those surveyed expect the economy to remain unchanged over the next 12 months, as attention turns to Budget 2027.
THE ECONOMY The latest LMD-PEPPERCUBE Business Confidence Index (BCI) survey, conducted in the first week of October, points to a decline in optimism over the economy.
Slightly over four in 10 (41%) of polled respondents expect the economy to ‘improve’ over the next 12 months – that’s down six percentage points from September. Meanwhile, half (50%) believe it will ‘stay the same,’ reflecting a one percentage point increase from the previous month.
And nine percent expect the economy to ‘get worse’ – an increase of five percentage points from September’s four percent.
SALES VOLUMES Expectations for sales over the next 12 months remain relatively steady with around half (51%) of the poll participants anticipating an improvement – up one point from the preceding month.
Thirty-eight percent feel that their sales volumes will ‘stay the same’ – down seven percentage points from September’s 45 percent. And another 11 percent believe their volumes will ‘get worse,’ reflecting a six point spike from the month prior (5%).
Over the past 12 months, 35 percent report an ‘increase’ in sales volumes, marking a six percentage point decline from the 41 percent recorded in September.
And some four in 10 (41%) say their sales volumes ‘stayed the same’ – down one point from September (42%). Moreover, less than a quarter (24%) report a decline, up seven points from 17 percent in the preceding month.
The outlook for the next three months has weakened with 36 percent of poll participants expecting higher sales volumes compared to 45 percent in September.
And 56 percent of the sample population anticipate their sales volumes to ‘stay the same’ (up 6%) while eight percent expect their numbers to ‘get worse’ over the next three months – an increase of three percentage points from the previous month (5%).
INVESTMENT CLIMATE Views on the investment climate remain mixed in October with nine respondents rating conditions as ‘very good’ – compared with one participant in September.
On the contrary, 19 percent describe the outlook as ‘good’ while more than half (54%) consider the investment climate to be ‘fair’ – down 11 percentage points from the month prior (65%).
And a further 17 percent of respondents rate the investment climate as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor,’ marking a seven point increase from the preceding month (10%).
EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS Less than one in five (19%) of respondents say they intend to ‘increase’ their staff numbers, representing a two percentage point decline compared to September.
And nearly three-quarters (72%) of those surveyed say they intend to maintain their current workforce levels – that’s unchanged from the previous month.
Meanwhile, nine percent expect to downsize over the next six months, which reflects a two point spike from the preceding month.
– LMD
