M'sian corporates, SMEs cautious as business confidence weakens

LEE: pulled pack sharply to an average growth of 3.3% in the first half of 2018, as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach ahead of the 14th general election. During the period of 2015-17, private investment growth almost halved to 6.8% per annum from a double-digit rate of 13.6% in 2010-2014.

PETALING JAYA: After a weak purchasing managers’ index (PMI) cast a pall over the economy, business confidence expectations for the first half of the year has weakened among corporates and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), according to the RAM Business Confidence Index (RAM BCI).

The poll conducted on 3,500 firms in Malaysia has fallen to its lowest since RAM started publishing the data two years ago and revealed that for the first and second quarters of 2019, the RAM BCI for the corporate and SME segments of business have fallen to 55.1 and 51.0, respectively.