business sentiment

The survey involved 1056 companies, with top challenges like increase in business costs and manpower costs as key factors.

The business optimism index (BOI) fell to 4.60 percentage points in 2Q2023, down from 5.35 percentage points in the year before.

“The overall lukewarm outlook for local businesses is due primarily to a weakening external demand," says SCCB's CEO Audrey Chia.

Services and manufacturing firms in Singapore are looking at dim prospects in the second half of this year as the Covid-19 health-turned-economic crisis continues to thwart their operations.

Singapore will witness a deeper recession this year after the nation extended and tightened its partial lockdown, Citigroup Inc. warned, widening its forecast for an economic contraction.

“These are unprecedented times for the business community. We’re facing one of the worst outbreaks in history, unprecedented border closures of entire countries and growing uncertainty in the global financial markets,” says SBF CEO Ho Meng Kit.

The plan would include about US$500 billion in loans and assistance for larger companies, as well as states and cities, according to the latest drafts being circulated. But the aid comes with strings attached after pressure from Democrats.

Yu Xiaobo, investment director and head of China business for Value Partners, explains why Chinese stocks offer a compelling opportunity at this time

Analysts at Credit Suisse Group and Citigroup Inc. are concerned that the profit hit from the epidemic may be larger than the market currently expects for the nation’s companies.

49% of local businesses expect Singapore’s business climate to become more challenging this year, while 44% expect the climate to remain the same.