Singapore SME business confidence steadily improving in past 21 months

Only 29% have had to cut staff.

Singapore SMEs seem to be accumulating more business confidence in the the recent year or so, as seen in the relatively lower staff reduction incidence among SMEs compared to larger corporates.

This is according to new findings from ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) in their Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) analysis.

Gabriel Low, Fellow of ACCA and member of ACCA’s Global Forum for SMEs said: “There are some positive patterns emerging for Singapore’s SMEs. Over the 21 month period ACCA and IMA analysed, there has been a steady improvement in business confidence. Unlike their larger counterparts, SMEs in Singapore have not had to cut staff numbers by anywhere near as much. Some 51% of large and mid-market companies cut staff numbers compared to just 29 % at the smaller end of the business spectrum (companies with less than 250 employees).”