Economy on the edge: Survey

Saturday, 18 June 2022 00:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In its June edition, business magazine LMD says there’s “no hope of respite from floating rupees, fiscal storms and wolves at the door”, noting that “the May LMD-NielsenIQ Business Confidence Index (BCI) survey provides some valuable insights”.

“The newly appointed prime minister brought in mixed feelings along with mistrust and speculation. The worsening economic situation… and the Prime Minister announcing to the nation to tighten belts even further in the next three months has led to a deep foreboding of darker days to come,” notes NielsenIQ’s Director – Consumer Insights Therica Miyanadeniya.

“This pall of gloom has steadily worsened from December last year – except for an ever so slight ray of hope in February – when the naysayers’ camp spiked to 71% from November’s 55%,” LMD adds.

Expectations for business prospects suggest there’s worse to come, dropping a further nine percentage points (from 62% in April to 53% in May) of businesses that expect their sales volumes to ‘get better’ in the 12 months ahead.

Meanwhile, the percentage of businesses that think their sales volumes ‘will get worse’ in the next year has steadily increased over the last six months from only four in December to 27 in May.

And there’s little good news on the investment front either, says LMD: “Last month’s jaw-dropping majority of 97% of businesspeople who deem it to be ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ have persuaded the 1% who said the investment climate was ‘good’ in April to join their ranks in May…”

Media Services, LMD’s publisher, says the June edition of the magazine has been released. Its digital edition is also available on WhatsApp and the publisher’s social media platforms.

Its exclusive Cover Story features a tribute to ‘People Power’ and the Aragalaya, with views and interviews from across a broad spectrum of businesspeople, professionals and students. For the full story, log onto www.LMD.lk.