The annual average Business Confidence Index grew by over 12.1 points to 137 points compared to 2021 while the annual average Consumer Confidence Index also grew by over 20 points to 160 points.
This outcome for the Business Confidence Index was driven by the annual average of the sub-indices, Current Business Conditions and Index of Business Expectations, as the performance of their respective sub-index components increased.
For the Consumer Confidence Index, growth was supported by a 45.4-point increase in how consumers feel about the Current Economic Conditions sub-index, and a 12-point increase in the Consumer Expectations sub-index.
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Business and Consumer Confidence in the Economy Improving
The annual average Business Confidence Index grew by over 12 points to 137 points compared to 2021 while the annual average Consumer Confidence Index also grew by over 20 points to 160 points.
This outcome for the Business Confidence Index was driven by the annual average of the sub-indices, Current Business Conditions and Index of Business Expectations, as the performance of their respective sub-index components increased.
The increased optimism for the sub-index, Current Business Conditions, was also boosted by increased positive perception about the investment/expansion atmosphere and the current return on investment performance.
An analysis of the sub-index components for Current Business Conditions revealed that the Current Return on Investments recorded an annual average of 97.3 points relative to 73.8 points, whereas the index for the Investment/Expansion Climate was 121.8 compared with 112.8 points in 2021.
There was growth in the number of firms which considered that the investment climate was favourable. The increase in Business Expectations was supported by improvement in anticipated changes in firms’ finances and profitability.
Regarding firms’ expectations, all components grew relative to 2021, except for the Expected Change in Economy which declined by 7.0 points to 130.8 points.
This decline was outweighed by the improved performance in the remaining components Expected Change in Firm’s Finances, by 10.3 points to 169.3 points, and Expected Change in Profitability, by 12.6 points to 159.0 points.
For the Consumer Confidence Index which also grew, growth was supported by a 45.4-point increase in how consumers feel about the Current Economic Conditions sub-index, and a 12.0 point increase in the Consumer Expectations sub-index.
Consumer Confidence increased for both current conditions and expectations as consumers feel better about Current Business conditions and is expecting a positive change in income.
The improvement in Current Economic Conditions reflected increases of 11.3 points to 91.8 points in the component Current Business Conditions and 24.5 points to 57.5 points in Current Job Prospects.
The increased confidence in the future (higher Index of Consumer Expectations) was primarily due to a higher out-turn for the Expected Job Prospects component by 10.5 points to 109.0 points and the Expected Change in Income by 17.5 points to 137.0 points.
The annual Business and Consumer Confidence Survey is conducted by a locally based international research firm, Market Research Services Ltd.
