Business confidence on the wane

Singapore

BUSINESS optimism has waned across both the services and manufacturing sectors, according to government surveys conducted in September and October. Findings show that although there continue to be more optimistic firms than negative ones, the magnitude of positive sentiment has gone down, compared with the previous six months.

Of the 1,500 services firms polled by the Department of Statistics (DOS) between September and mid-October this year, a weighted 18 per cent of firms expect business conditions to improve over the next six months, while a weighted 11 per cent of firms foresee slower business.