Singapore's business sentiments become less pessimistic: survey

Companies in Singapore are less pessimistic about business for the six months starting October (Illustrative photo: straitstimes.com)

 Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) and Department of Statistics (DOS) recently released survey reports about business expectations, showing companies in the country are less pessimistic about business for the six months starting October.

The survey report titled “Business Expectations of the Manufacturing Sector” showed that a weighted 18 percent of manufacturers expect business conditions to improve, while 21 percent foresee a weaker business outlook for the period from October 2020 to March 2021.

Overall, a net weighted balance of 3 percent of manufacturers anticipate a less favorable business for the period from October 2020 to March 2021, compared to the third quarter of this year.

That is an improvement from the previous edition of this survey report, which was released last July and showed a net weighted balance of 7 percent of manufacturers predicted a softer business situation for the second half of 2020, compared to the second quarter this year.

Regarding expectations of the services sector, a weighted 20 percent of firms are optimistic about the business conditions in the six months starting this October, while a weighted 25 percent of such firms foresee slower business.

Overall, a net weighted balance of 5 percent of service firms anticipate less favourable business conditions for the period from October 2020 to March 2021.

The previous edition of this survey report showed a net weighted balance of 31 percent of service firms anticipated less favourable business conditions for the six months ending this December./.

VNA