Singaporeans report biggest loss of business confidence in Q3 2011

63% are losing business confidence and 80% expect the global economy to stagnate or deteriorate further.

According to a relase, like other small, open economies, Singapore has been particularly affected by economic trends in the last quarter. However, while respondents here have traditionally been among the most optimistic among the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants’s major markets, in the last quarter Singapore, where there were 100 respondents, reported the biggest net loss of confidence of any major ACCA market, with 63% reporting a loss of business confidence and 80% expecting the global economy to stagnate or deteriorate further.

Demand is at the heart of this trend, with new orders falling and few new opportunities springing up in their place. As a result, investment, which had been rising in net terms until mid-2011, has also suffered.

Uniquely, respondents in Singapore were also more likely this quarter to report problems with exchange rate fluctuations.