SG’s business confidence climbs for fourth straight quarter
Local business sentiment remained in a positive direction for the fourth consecutive quarter.
The business optimism index rose moderately to 4.94 percentage points for the third quarter of 2024, from 4.82 percentage points during the second quarter.
The index is based upon a business sentiment survey that the Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau (SCCB) conducts every quarter. The survey involves 200 business owners and senior executives from major industries. The survey asks respondents about their expectations in six areas of business: Sales Volumes (volumes of sales) and Net Profits (net profits) as well as Selling Prices (selling prices), New Orders (new orders) as well as inventories and Employment Levels.
Year over year the index for the quarter was more than 3.98 percentage points in the third quarter of 2023.
The construction, transportation and financial sectors were the most hopeful, since at least four of six indicators showed positive results for each of these areas.
Manufacturing sector sentiments remained relatively downbeat with only two indicators in positive territory.
The third quarter of 2024 will see the sales volume as well as the net profit decrease to less than 3.85 percent points, down from 0 percent in the second quarter. This is the beginning contraction.
Six indicators in three indicated a slight improvement in the wholesale sector’s sentiments in the third quarter of 2024.
The volume of sales and Net Profit increased up to 6.67 percentile points in the third quarter in 2024 after being the minus 6.67 percentile points in the preceding quarter.
The indicators for three of the six for this sector are favorable.
An optimistic business outlook for local businesses is expected in the third quarter of 2024.
In addition to the continued growth in the construction and transportation sectors in the financial and services sectors are optimistic. Industries that are focused on external markets like the wholesale trade sector are also a bit more optimistic because of an increase in demand from outside both regionally and globally.
The risk of downturns, like the escalating security and geopolitical tensions will likely remain.
The indicators of sales volume sales, selling price, new orders, as well as the levels of employment were all growing like they did in the prior quarter.
The decrease in inventory levels slowed from less than 2.99 percent to minus 1.48 in the third quarter of 2024.
Three indicators improved on a quarter-on-quarter basis, including the volume of sales, net profits and employment levels, whereas selling prices and new orders slowed.
In the past year the volume of sales and net profit increased up to 5.93 percentage points in the third quarter, from 2.99 percentage points in the year-ago period.
The 3rd quarter of 2024 witnessed an increase in orders, which rose to 5.19 percent from 4.48 percent in the prior quarter. Employment increased to 6.67 percent from 4.48 in the preceding quarter.
The selling price dropped to 7.41 percentage points in the third quarter in 2024, down from 11.19 percentage points the previous year.
