Singapore business confidence reaches 12-month low in Q4

The ongoing geopolitical uncertainties around the world has led to global economic growth almost stalled, which in turn, hurt local business confidence in Singapore, dragging the Business Optimism Index (BOI) to a 12- month low in the fourth quarter, the Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau said on Monday.

A survey report of the bureau showed the overall BOI dropped to 10.79 percentage points in the fourth quarter, down from 14.65 percentage points in the previous quarter.

The bureau said that all six indicators saw decrease in optimism levels in the fourth quater. Among which, volume of sales, net profits and inventory levels sustained the highest deceleration.

Volume of sales dropped from 50.8 percentage points to 22.14, net profits declined to 17.14 from 44.1 percentage points while inventory levels fell to just 3.57 from 29.2 percentage points in the previous quarter. The other three indicators are employment levels, selling prices and new orders, it added.

According to the bureau, the Business Expectations Surveys are conducted every quarter, with 200 business owners and senior executives representing major industry sectors across Singapore participating. The companies are asked if they expect increases, decreases or no changes in their upcoming quarterly sales, profits, employment, new orders, inventories and selling prices.