THE ECONOMY
Confidence in the economy remained subdued in May as the corporate community signalled a cautious outlook – likely influenced by fuel and electricity price hikes, the rising cost of living, geopolitical tensions and mounting pressures faced by the wider community.
THE ECONOMY The latest LMD-PEPPERCUBE Business Confidence Index (BCI) survey, conducted in the first week of May, reflects a modest improvement in economic optimism, reversing the negativity reported in April.
CONFIDENCE REMAINS RESTRAINED
Economic sentiment appears to be subdued with a consensus of remaining as such
More than a quarter (28%) of polled respondents expect the economy to ‘improve’ over the next 12 months, which reflects a four percentage point increase from April. And 56 percent believe that conditions will ‘stay the same’ – up by a noteworthy 17 points from the previous month.
A further 16 percent anticipate that the economy will ‘get worse,’ also marking a notable decline of 21 points from April.
SALES VOLUMES Expectations regarding sales volumes have weakened somewhat. Thirty-eight percent anticipate an improvement over the next 12 months, compared to 43 percent in the month prior.
However, more than half (54%) expect their sales volumes to ‘stay the same,’ reflecting an 11 point increase, while eight of the 100 respondents surveyed believe their sales volumes will ‘get worse’ (down 6% from the preceding month).
Meanwhile, slightly less than half of the participants (46%) – down four points from the preceding month – report an ‘increase’ in sales volumes compared to last year.
Additionally, slightly over four in 10 (43%) say their sales volumes ‘stayed the same’ (marking a three point rise from April’s 40%). And only 11 percent report a decline – up marginally by one point from 10 percent in the preceding month.
Looking ahead to the next three months, there is a sense of cautious optimism with nearly four in 10 (39%) of poll participants projecting an increase in sales volumes – that’s up nine points from April’s 30 percent.
What’s more, 51 percent of the sample population say their sales volumes will ‘stay the same’ (up 3%) while only 10 percent anticipate their numbers to ‘get worse’ over the next three months, which is a noteworthy 12 point decline from the previous month.
INVESTMENT CLIMATE Confidence in the investment climate weakened in May with only one respondent viewing the outlook as ‘very good’ – against six percent in April.
However, the proportion that says the future looks ‘good’ increased by 15 percentage points to 39 percent. And 42 percent describe the investment outlook as ‘fair,’ reflecting a five percentage point decline from the month prior.
Meanwhile, 18 percent view the investment climate as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ – that’s a four point drop from the preceding month.
EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS Two in 10 poll participants (20%) say they intend to ‘increase’ their staff numbers, which is a four point decline from April.
And more than half of those surveyed (69%) say they intend to maintain current workforce levels (up 4%) while 11 percent expect to downsize in the next six months (unchanged from a month ago).
– LMD
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