Illustrative image (Photo: Reuters)
Singapore (VNA) – Expectations of business expansion among Singapore small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have sunk to the lowest since 2009, according to a quarterly survey by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and Experian that was announced on December 23.
All six sectors polled for the latest SBF-Experian SME Index have scaled back their expansion plans for 2020, partly due to an uncertain economic environment, increased competition and rising cost pressures.
Some 3,600 companies were surveyed for the next six months of January to June 2020 on their expectations in seven areas, including business expansion, turnover, profitability, capital investment, hiring, capacity utilisation and access to financing.
Overall optimism dampened for the first half of 2020, with the index falling further to 50.4, compared to 50.6 in the previous survey for Q4 2019 and Q1 2020.
SBF Chief Executive Officer Ho Meng Kit said the survey was conducted between October 7 and November 15./.
