Follow Hong Kong Investment Immigration and Hong Kong Economy news: The Hong Kong Productivity Council announced on the 10th the "Standard Chartered Hong Kong SME Leading Business Index" (Standard Chartered SME Index) for the fourth quarter of 2013. The composite business index exceeded 50, reaching a record high, which indicates that Hong Kong SMEs' confidence in the business environment for this quarter has improved.
This survey interviewed decision-makers from over 800 Hong Kong SMEs in sectors such as retail, trade and wholesale, and manufacturing, collecting their views on the overall business environment for the fourth quarter and regional and global changes. Data shows that the composite business index rose by 0.8 from the previous quarter, reaching the threshold of 50, reflecting that SMEs have shaken off negative sentiment for the first time in the past year and a half and are optimistic about the future business environment.
Among them, retail SMEs are the most optimistic about the outlook, with the figure hitting a record high of 53. However, some SMEs still indicated that the impact of the newly implemented "Tourism Law" in the Mainland and global economic uncertainties on the retail industry remains to be observed. General Manager of the Productivity Council, Lao Shaocong, stated that the rise in the index is mainly due to a significant improvement in the retail industry's view on "profit performance." Over 80% of respondents indicated that their profit index for this quarter has improved or remained stable compared to the previous quarter, while the continued recovery of the external economy over the past year has made the retail industry's outlook for the peak season significantly more optimistic than the same period last year.
Kelvin Lau, Senior Economist at Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, stated that the results of this SME index survey are consistent with Standard Chartered's increasingly optimistic view on the global economic growth outlook. He said that there is growing evidence that the European economy is on the path to growth, and the pace of growth in the United States and Japan is also accelerating. He believes that the market disturbance caused by news of the Federal Reserve's tapering of quantitative easing has passed, but the economy still faces challenges in the short term.
The "Standard Chartered Hong Kong SME Leading Business Index" is a quarterly survey on the business conditions of Hong Kong SMEs. The survey team of the Hong Kong Productivity Council interviews over 800 local SMEs each time from sectors including manufacturing, import/export trade and wholesale, retail, accommodation and catering services, information and communications, finance and insurance, professional services, and real estate, to understand their outlook for the coming quarter's performance.