BURNING ISSUES
Inflation stormed back to the forefront of business concerns in May, dethroning high taxes after its 15week reign as the dominant issue facing businesspeople. In May, exactly half of surveyed executives identified inflation as their primary concern – a 12 percentage point increase from April.
In the latest LMD-PEPPERCUBE Business Confidence Index (BCI) survey, high taxes slipped to second place with slightly over a quarter (27%) of respondents citing it as a major concern – a notable decline of 14 percentage points from the previous month (41%).
Anxiety over inflation takes over from the tax burden in business circles
Meanwhile, brain drain re-entered the list of burning issues, ranking third with more than two in 10 respondents (21%) expressing anxiety. Fuel shortages followed as the fourth most cited worry with 19 percent concerned most likely about recurring price hikes.
Rounding out the top five is the ‘dollar crisis,’ which emerged as a new entrant amid the Sri Lankan Rupee’s depreciation due to global hostilities – it was highlighted by 18 percent of polled executives.
On a national scale, the cost of living remains the foremost concern for the second consecutive month with a clear majority (63%) identifying it as the country’s primary challenge – though this marked a sharp decline of 21 points from April (84%).
The economy ranked second, cited by 60 percent of respondents – up marginally by two percentage points from the month prior.
Meanwhile, concerns surrounding the impact of climate change emerged as the third most pressing issue with nearly a quarter (24%) highlighting it as a burning issue.
Brain drain and poor infrastructure make up the five main concerns, cited by 13 and 12 percent of surveyed executives respectively.
– LMD
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