MSMEs reveal decreasing confidence in economy, banks
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Thailand's business confidence index among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has declined from 62.9 in the first quarter of this year to 61.7 in the second quarter, according to a survey by Hong Kong-based market research agency, Radar Global.
The research shows that 33 per cent of respondents were positive about the country’s economy over the next 6 months, down from 40 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, 87 per cent were positive about their own company’s financial prospects and 78 per cent were positive about their own industry’s prospects.
The most pessimistic about continued improvement in the country’s economy is the Manufacturing sector (26 per cent) while the Finance sector (8 per cent) was the least pessimistic.
Up to 93 per cent rated the availability of credit for their company as easily or somewhat available – the highest number for all surveyed countries and 50 per cent expected to seek financing in the coming 12 months.
Fortythree per cent expect the regulatory environment to become more restrictive – the highest of all seven countries surveyed.
While 46 per cent of companies expect their work force (head count) to increase over the coming 12, 46 per cent expect it to remain about the same and only 8 per cent expect some shrinkage, 32 per cent of companies with 110 employees expect to increase their workforce compared to 55 per cent of companies with 51250 employees.
Eightysix per cent of respondents thought that local banks had a positive reputation while only 76 per cent thought that international banks had a positive reputation.
