31% of business owners expect worse conditions for Q1 2020

These were mostly under the hospitality, retail and logistics industries.

Major business sectors have all demonstrated a bearish outlook for Q1 2020, with 31% of business owners expecting worse conditions that in Q4 2019, said a survey by the Census and statistics department (C&SD).

Such respondents were under the accommodation and food services, retail, transportation, storage sectors. Industry sectors such as courier services, construction, and manufacturing expressed concerns over the same period.

Output, such as volume of business, sales, and construction, are projected to go down, particularly in the accommodation services, retail, construction, transportation, storage and courier services scenes.

Meanwhile, employment is expected to either remain flat or to get worse in Q1 2020. However, most business owners in the construction sector are forecasting their employment status to decline, whilst those in the financing, insurance and manufacturing sector are looking forward to employment growth over the same period.

Outlook on selling prices and service charges also showed to remain unchanged and leaning towards the bearish view. Majority of the respondents in the construction sector believe their tender prices will go down in Q1, whilst the manufacturing and the information and communications sector were the only sectors expecting service charges and selling prices to go up in Q1 2020.