Business sentiment rebounds for Q2

Local businesses have an expansionary view of the quarter ahead.

Business optimism has rebounded to a positive, expansionary outlook for the second quarter, according to a recent poll.

The Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau (SCCB), in its latest Business Optimisim Index (BOI), reported that business sentiment jumped to +3.94 percentage points for the second quarter from the -7.88 percentage points reported for the same period the previous year.

"The outlook for local businesses has shown signs of further recoveryas we enter into the second quarter of 2021. The financial services, wholesale trade and manufacturing sectors havein particularcontinued to experience sustained growth and demand both locally and globally. For the first time in four consecutive quarters, we have also seen business optimism rebounding into the expansionary zone,” said SCCB CEO Audrey Chia.

Whilst sentiment has been largely optimistic, it varies accross the sectors surveyed. The sentiment accross the financial, manufacturing, wholesale, and services sectors is upbeat. The constructio and transportation sectors, however, remained downbeat.

The BOI measures business confidence in the economy and its expectations for the coming months by studying the factors of sales, profits, employment, new orders, inventories, and selling prices. It has respondents from 200 business owners and senior executives from the sectors polled.