Business confidence index stays above century mark:

Business sentiment intact - LMD

The LMD-Nielsen Business Confidence Index (BCI), which is the only measure of business sentiment in this country, continues to register over 100 on the BCI scale. In October, the index stood at 106, compared to 109 in the previous month, says LMD.

“The unique index is now 27 points higher than it was just a year ago,” it notes.

According to LMD, the 12-month business outlook has improved in the eyes of businesspeople.

“Forty-three per cent of respondents now feel that their sales volumes will increase in the coming 12 months, which is six per cent higher than in the previous month and more than 30 per cent above the level of two months ago,” it reports.

But sales in the last year have been stagnant, the poll suggests.

“The October outcome - as far as sales in the last 12 months goes - is a virtual carbon copy of what transpired last month, with a third saying volumes have risen, 46 per cent confirming harder times and the balance saying their level of sales stayed the same,” LMD observes.

“We expect there to be a lull of sorts in the months leading to a probable military victory in the north, then a burst of confidence - subject to whether or not the world at large staves off the financial Armageddon that it is now facing,” the pioneering magazine concludes in its regular commentary on the BCI, adding that “it could be that many of the critical issues that confront the business community have now been factored in by the corporate hierarchy - and this could very well include the extreme volatility in global financial and capital markets at the time of going to press”. LMD’s publisher Media Services also announced that its annual special edition THE LMD 50 will be released at the end of November.

THE LMD 50 is Sri Lanka’s version of The Fortune 500.