Economic sentiment deteriorates: Survey

Wednesday, 9 January 2019 00:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sentiment surrounding the economy declined in December 2018, according to the latest LMD-Nielsen Business Confidence (BCI) poll. The unique survey reveals that only 4% of the business people spoken to by Nielsen expect the economy to improve in the next 12 months compared to 19% in the previous month.

In contrast, two-thirds of those polled say the economy “will get worse” with one corporate executive stating that “the investment climate and the economy are falling apart”. When it comes to business prospects, 14% and 24% of survey respondents expect sales volumes to improve in the short and long terms, respectively.

One of the businesspeople surveyed notes: “Currently, we’re facing a situation where there is a decrease in sales revenue mainly because of the impact of the dollar on our imports.”

As for the investment climate, only 2% (down from 7%) of respondents consider it to be ‘good’.

A survey respondent explains: “Because of the poor country image these days, there’s hardly any investment coming in – and existing investments are being put on hold or pulled out, and it is very unlikely that this situation will be resolved any time soon.”

The publisher of LMD, Media Services, says the January edition of the magazine has been released to leading supermarkets and bookstores in Colombo and the outstations.

Its cover story examines the implications of the recent political instability on the state of the nation.

For the full story, log onto www.LMD.lk.