Skip to main content

SMEs have lost confindent.

 

Small business

About a third of small to medium-sized enter­prises feel less con­fid­ent about expand­ing this year after the gov­ern­ment’s Autumn State­ment, in a sign of the pess­im­ism spread­ing among many entre­pren­eur­ial com­pan­ies.

The pro­por­tion of SMEs plan­ning to expand has fallen from 38 per cent in sum­mer last year to 17 per cent now, accord­ing to a sur­vey by the Asso­ci­ation of Chartered Cer­ti­fied Account­ants and the Cor­por­ate Fin­ance Net­work.

Meas­ures intro­duced by min­is­ters to reduce the impact of infla­tion and mit­ig­ate an impend­ing reces­sion and rising energy costs have fallen short, accord­ing to the groups, which polled account­ancy pro­fes­sion­als on the fin­an­cial out­look of about 12,350 SME cli­ents.

The sur­vey’s find­ings high­light con­cerns among many smal­ler busi­nesses, some of which are under pres­sure to repay debts accrued dur­ing bruis­ing pan­demic-related lock­downs.

Higher energy costs have added to wider infla­tion­ary pres­sures.

The sur­vey will worry poli­cy­makers because small com­pan­ies tend to be more optim­istic than aver­age. Almost two-thirds of SME bosses said they were exper­i­en­cing higher levels of stress due to eco­nomic uncer­tainty, double the pro­por­tion six months ago.

www.sba.tax

Labels:

Comments

  1. Adam19 January 2023 at 12:30

    Until these higher energy costs are dealt with by the government, SMEs won't be able to think about expansion, only about survival.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mick19 January 2023 at 13:31

      Energy costs are killing small businesses! I don't understand why the government can't act swiftly and come up with better ways to deal with these and other limiting factors!?

      Delete
    2. Laura19 January 2023 at 16:52

      Yeah, just look at what Germany did and is doing and their economy was in a lot of trouble a few months ago and is seemingly doing well now.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Cloud Bookkeeping

US FED rate rise.

  The US Federal Reserve officials have indicated that they plan to resume increasing interest rates to control inflation in the world's biggest economy. During the June meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee reached a consensus to keep interest rates stable for the time being to evaluate whether further tightening of policy would be necessary. However, the majority of the committee anticipates that additional rate increases will be required in the future. The minutes of the meeting have recently been made public. According to the minutes, most participants believed maintaining the federal funds rate at 5 to 5.25 per cent was appropriate or acceptable, despite some individuals wanting to raise the acceleration due to slow progress in cooling inflation. Although Fed forecasts predicted a mild recession starting later in the year, policymakers faced challenges in interpreting data that showed a tight job market and only slight improvements in inflation. Additionally, officials gr...
Post a Comment
Read more

EU business slide.

  S&P Global’s flash eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index, a key gauge of business conditions for the manufacturing and services sector, fell 1 point to 47.1, figures showed yesterday. That is its lowest level since November 2020 and the fourth consecutive month below the crucial 50 mark separating growth from contraction. One of the few bright spots in the survey was that companies in all sectors reported a slight easing of cost pressures, price growth and supply chain constraints. However, prices charged for goods and services still rose at the sixth fastest rate since such data started in 2002. Jobs growth increased marginally from October but remained low compared with the past 18 months. Following a few months of falling price pressure in manufacturing and services, the October print shows an overall stabilisation said Jens Eisenschmidt, chief European economist at Morgan Stanley. However, German businesses, at the hub of Europe’s energy crisis, reported that manu...
1 comment
Read more

EU debt reduction

  Brussels wants to give EU capitals extra time to curb their debts and create space for public investment as part of an overhaul of the EU’s deficit rules .  The European Commission would table a proposal at the end of the month to reform the Stability and Growth Pact ,  under which it would work out multi-year ,  country-specific plans with capitals for getting their debt burdens under control ,  EU officials said .  The proposals come as member states face mounting fiscal burdens as they spend hundreds of billions of euros sheltering businesses and households from the energy crisis .  Under the new blueprint ,  the commission would propose a four- or five-year plan to an EU member state to get its public debt burden on a credible ,  downward trajectory ,  officials said . The national fiscal plan would need to pass a debt sustainability analysis and be approved by the commission and EU council .  The new regime would ditch an EU ...
Post a Comment
Read more