BIZ FRETS OVER INFLATION

Corporates cite inflation and the economy as the foremost burning issues

The latest LMD-PEPPERCUBE Business Confidence Index (BCI) survey reveals that inflation is the main concern for business – in March, 44 percent of BCI survey participants identified inflation as their primary concern, which is an ever so slight dip from February’s 45 percent.

Interest rates surpassed high taxes in March with 36 percent of respondents citing the cost of borrowing as a burning issue. This marked a slight uptick compared to February when concern over interest rates was three percentage points lower.

According to the exclusive survey conducted in the first week of March, high taxes shifted to third place on the anxiety scale with nearly a third (32%) of polled executives expressing negativity about the tax regime.

Meanwhile, political interference emerged as a concern for business – it ranked fourth (29% said so)  and 22 out of 100 participants voiced apprehension regarding the prospect of political instability on businesses.

On a national scale, once again the economy emerges as the primary concern among businesspeople with nearly three-quarters (72%) saying so – this marks a substantial increase of seven percentage points from the previous month.

The persistent issue of the cost of living also continues to garner the attention of biz executives with the proportion of those who say so rising by seven percentage points to 52 percent in March.

And the political culture maintained its position as the third most pressing issue for the fourth consecutive month although this marker fell by as many as 17 percentage points to 49 percent.

Concerns about the brain drain ranked fourth (24%), followed closely by bribery and corruption in fifth place (20%).

– LMD