Business confidence drops to seven-month low
July 15, 2013 Category Macro-economy, Weekly
The confidence of Chinese businesses fell sharply to a seven-year low in the second quarter. The number of Chinese respondents who expressed optimism outpaced those who were pessimistic by only 4% in the April-May period, significantly down from 25% in the first quarter, said Grant Thornton, a global auditing firm. It is the lowest since the firm started compiling China data in 2006. 40% of respondents cited an uncertain economic outlook as most threatening to their business, and fewer firms said they will increase funds in manufacturing and research in the next 12 months. “We hope the government could do more to reduce financing cost especially for small businesses to help them survive in the market,” said Xu Hua, Partner at Grant Thorton China. The survey, released after China’s exports in June posted the first annual drop since January 2012, covers 12,500 businesses annually in 44 economies, the firm said.
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