KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Businesses turned more pessimistic on their outlook in the third quarter (Q3) of 2021, according to the latest quarterly survey by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) to gauge their business performance expectations for the upcoming quarter and six months ahead.
Based on the Business Tendency Survey for Q3 2021, the confidence indicator further dipped to -21.3 per cent in the reference quarter from -3.1 per cent in the preceding quarter.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said all sectors covered were anticipating unfavourable business conditions for Q3 2021 in light of severe and prolonged Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
“The confidence indicator of the wholesale and retail trade sector plunged to negative trajectory with -39.4 per cent compared with +5.6 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021 due to both subsectors (wholesale trade and retail trade) being less confident towards their business situations for the next three months,” he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, the industry and services sectors also indicated increased pessimism, with the confidence indicator dropping to -11.0 per cent and -22.8 per cent, respectively, in Q3 from -1.5 per cent and -6.1 per cent, respectively, in the previous quarter, he said.
Concurrently, Mohd Uzir said, the construction sector also anticipated their business situation to recede in the reference quarter with a score of -45.0 per cent against -30.5 per cent in Q2.
“Overall, a net balance of -12.9 per cent indicates that establishments foresee their gross revenue to decrease of which, 23.6 per cent of establishments expect higher gross revenue for the third quarter while 36.5 per cent demonstrate otherwise.
“Simultaneously, 39.9 per cent of establishments predict their gross revenue will remain the same. In terms of employment, the majority of the establishments (76.5 per cent) anticipate to retain their employees for the reference quarter,” said Mohd Uzir.
He also said about 8.5 per cent of respondents were expecting to hire more people while 15.0 per cent intended to reduce their headcount, which resulted in a net balance of -6.5 per cent for Q3 2021.
Looking at the sentiment for the upcoming six months, Mohd Uzir said businesses turned pessimistic on their business outlook for the July-December 2021 period with an overall net balance of -21.7 per cent compared to the +11.0 per cent recorded for the period of April to September 2021.
Similar to the three-month outlook, all sectors anticipated negative prospects with the least pessimistic sector being industry, he said.
According to the survey, the industry sector is expecting business conditions to slip from +12.5 per cent to -11.8 per cent for the second half (H2) of 2021.
At the same time, he said, the services and construction sectors were expecting business situation to be less favourable for the next six months with a net balance of -14.2 per cent and -24.2 per cent, respectively, against +8.4 per cent and +6.1 per cent, respectively, for the period of April to September 2021.
Mohd Uzir said the wholesale and retail trade sector also foresaw a challenging business performance in the forthcoming six months with a net balance of -59.7 per cent versus the +12.5 per cent recorded previously.
— Bernama
