Business confidence at a near standstill

Friday, 8 May 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The May edition of business magazine LMD reports that the LMD-Nielsen Business Confidence Index (BCI) “virtually stalled in April, rising by a sundry two points from the previous month, to register 154”. It adds: “However, the index remains above its 12

-month average of 147 and 20 notches higher than a year ago.” Nielsen’s Managing Director Shaheen Cader says, in LMD, that “the BCI has picked up slightly, on the back of good past year business performance”. Cader explains that “concerns about political uncertainty have been expressed by an unprecedented 98% of respondents – and this, combined with slightly increasing concerns over future business growth, has dampened prospects for the index”. As for business prospects, the magazine notes that “corporate executives remain optimistic,” with nearly 60% of poll participants anticipating that sales volumes ‘will get better’ in the next 12 months. “Conversely, a third of those polled state that the status quo will be maintained, and only eight percent expect business to deteriorate,” it reports. A spokesman for LMD says that a ‘wait-and-see approach’ is “likely to be the norm in business circles, at least until we’re past general elections… There’s a dire need to assess the potential impact of political decisions on the future of the local economy, and thus business.” LMD’s publisher Media Services says that the magazine has been released to bookstores and supermarkets (for the full BCI report, go to www.LMD.lk).