MOST smaller firms here are unlikely to slash jobs during the first half of this year, but are under no illusion about the scale of the slowdown, says a survey.
The twice-yearly HSBC poll of small businesses in Asia found that 87 per cent of those in Singapore expect their headcount to remain unchanged during the first six months of this year.
This, despite the fact that 82 per cent of them are expecting economic growth to slow. More than half - 61 per cent - of the 300 local firms surveyed are also planning to maintain their current levels of investment over the same period.
HSBC's Asia-Pacific Small Business Confidence Survey, conducted by research house TNS, asks 3,000 bosses across 10 Asian markets about their economic outlook for the coming six months, capital investment plans, staff levels and expectations for trade volumes.
It also measures business confidence levels on a scale of 0 to 200, with 100 as the midpoint.
According to the survey, the confidence of Singapore firms has been declining since the fourth quarter of 2007. It fell from 120 in that quarter to 101 by the second quarter of last year, and subsequently down to 70 by the fourth quarter.
Singapore's levels are consistently below the average weighted level for all countries in the region, which was 122 in the fourth quarter of 2007, 113 in the second quarter of 2008 and 89 in the last quarter of 2008.
The nine other Asian markets in the survey are China, Hong Kong, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.
According to HSBC, this is in line with expectations, given that Singapore has traditionally been more conservative on economic outlook than its Asian neighbours.
Small businesses in emerging economies like Bangladesh, Vietnam and India remain upbeat about growth, with the majority still expecting local economic growth to maintain the same pace as - or better - than last year.
- The Straits Times
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