Businesses remain positive on the business prospects for the second quarter and the next six months, the department of statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
It said that businesses remain positive on business prospects for the second quarter of 2022 albeit at a slower pace by confidence indicator registering +3.5 per cent compared to +7.6 per cent in the last quarter.
It said that all sectors except for the Construction sector anticipate better business conditions in the second quarter of 2022.
“Wholesale & Retail Trade sector is the most optimistic towards its business outlook. The confidence indicator for Wholesale & Retail Trade increase for three quarters in a row, with +15.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 from +4.0 per cent in the preceding quarter,” DOSM said.
It said that the brighter sentiment in both subsectors namely Wholesale Trade subsector as well as the Retail Trade subsector has led to this improvement.
Meanwhile, Services sector predicts business situation to improve at a moderate rate with a confidence indicator +5.6 per cent compared to +11.1 per cent in the last quarter. Concurrently, the Industry sector expects its business performance to grow at a slower pace in the second quarter of 2022 with +0.8 per cent.
The Agriculture and Mining subsectors anticipate unfavourable business condition in the reference quarter. On the other hand, confidence indicator for the Construction sector posted a better negative in the second quarter of 2022 with -23.2 per cent as against -40.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2022.
It said that Expectations of Gross Revenue and Number of Employees In terms of gross revenue, 45.2 per cent of respondents predict their gross revenue to increase in the second quarter of 2022 while 19.0 per cent expect a reduction which further leads to a net balance of +26.2 per cent.
Simultaneously, DOSM said that 35.8 per cent of respondents anticipate their gross revenue to stagnant. In the same quarter, 72.2 per cent of the businesses expect their manpower to remain the same despite the net balance of +10.8 per cent.
Correspondingly, it said that 19.3 per cent of businesses intend to hire more manpower, whilst 8.5 per cent plan to reduce their manpower in the second quarter of 2022.
On the next six months for the period of April to September 2022, it said that businesses remain optimistic on their business outlook with a net balance of +25.0 per cent, slightly increase against +18.9 per cent recorded previously.
DOSM said that the better sentiments of Wholesale & Retail Trade, Industry and Services sectors attributed to this positive insight. The Wholesale & Retail Trade sector anticipates favourable business outlook in the forthcoming six months with a net balance of +50.0 per cent as against +27.0 per cent for the first half of 2022.
At the same time, It said that Industry sector expects better business situation with a net balance of +22.1 per cent from +17.7 per cent recorded previously. Services sector also foresees positive business situation with a net balance of +23.6 per cent, remaining at positive trajectory In contrast, Construction sector is likely to remain in the pessimist trajectory for the term of April to September 2022 with an improved net balance to -25.0 per cent as against -30.8 per cent.
