Off the wire
• Senior Inner Mongolia official removed from post  • Japan's opposition JCP leader slashes Abe for misleading people in security legislation debate  • Urgent: China, U.S. kick off annual high-leveltalks on ties  • MERS not affecting Thai economy: official  • Roundup: Kurdish fighters seize town from IS in northern Syria  • Thousands celebrate Olympic Day in Beijing and in Zhangjiakou  • Italy hosts multinational helicopter exercise  • Airstrike kills 15 IS affiliates in Libya's Sirte  • Iran deems Majlis bill on nuke rights runs counter to constitution  • Alibaba, Ant Financial to set up local services JV  
You are here: 　 Home

Business confidence of Singapore SMEs falls to lowest level since 2013

Xinhua, June 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore expect their sales and profits to weaken in the next two quarters, with business confidence at the lowest level since the start of 2013, according to an index released on Tuesday.

The level of business confidence for the second half of this year among Singapore SMEs fell from 54.0 to 53.5, which is the lowest level since the start of 2013, according to the SBF-DP SME Index, a forward-looking index which measures the sentiments of SMEs by Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and DP Information Group (DP Info) on the basis of 3,600 interviewed SMEs.

Four of the six industries included in the Index, namely commerce and trading, manufacturing, retail and food and beverage and transport and storage, are all less optimistic than they were three months ago, while for business services companies, the outlook remains the same.

Only the construction sector bucked the trend with a slight increase in its Index Score from 53.6 to 54.0. Other indicators measured by the Index have also fallen, reflecting the general dip in SME confidence.

Lincoln Teo, Chief Operating Officer of DP Information Group, said SMEs are less optimistic but have yet to sink into pessimism. He said Singapore government's sustained push on productivity and lifelong learning is underpinning the confidence of the services sector, and the commitment to infrastructure development is boosting sentiment among construction firms.

According to the survey, turnover outlook fell from an Index Score of 5.57 to 5.55. Profit expectations declined to 5.44 from last quarter's figure of 5.47, while hiring expectations dipped to 5.46 from 5.70.

SBF and DP info said in a joint statement that continued waning confidence in hiring has forced SMEs to look toward productivity and operational efficiency measures as the two most viable solutions to meet year-end demand.

The statement revealed that SMEs are also choosing to invest capital in a bid to stave off manpower issues in the mid to long term. Correspondingly, government grants continue to drive capability development in SMEs. Endi