Biz confidence regains ground

Friday, 4 April 2014 00:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

“The exclusive barometer of business confidence bounces back from its fall in February, with sales volumes looking up, although macro factors are weighing on the corporate mindset,” leading business magazine LMD says, in its April edition. LMD notes, in an exclusive pre-publication release to the Daily FT, that “the latest LMD-Nielsen Business Confidence Index (BCI) shot up by 16 basis points (to 140) in March. And notably, this reverses the free fall in the previous month.” This means that “the unique index is now at an 11-month high and 10 notches higher than its average in the last 12 months,” a spokesperson for LMD’s publisher Media Services says. LMD quotes Nielsen’s Managing Director Shaheen Cader, who stated last month that “with the onset of the New Year period, the BCI mainly rose on the back of increased optimism about business volumes in the next three months. However, with provincial council elections coming up, the business community is wary of the adverse impact of election-related politics.” “With so many socio-economic factors coming into play in the recent past, corporates seem understandably anxious about the future,” the journal notes, adding that the Geneva sessions and local elections were part of their concerns at the time of Nielsen’s poll. It continues: “The about turn in the BCI indicates that factors such as the rupee’s stability and the freeze on lending rates – both of which are critical for business – may have also created a more optimistic environment for business.” Media Services says that the April issue of LMD will be released to leading bookstores and supermarkets across the island today.