Brighter skies ahead for firms

[SINGAPORE] Business sentiment has finally turned a corner: optimistic companies outnumber pessimistic ones for the first time in more than two years, says the latest BT-UniSIM Business Climate Survey report.

The quarterly survey, whose indicators have shown a strong correlation with GDP growth over its 19-year history, also predicts that the Singapore economy could grow as much as 5.9 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

Of the 147 companies that responded to the survey in late December and early January, 33 per cent said that they expect business prospects to improve in the first half of 2014.