The business outlook among Malaysian companies has slid further for the second consecutive quarter for Q1 2019.
According to a Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Malaysia’s Business Optimism Index (BOI) study, overall BOI moderated downwards from +12.99 percentage points in Q4 2018 to +8.92 percentage points in Q1 2019.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, BOI rose slightly from +7.25 percentage points in Q1 2018 to +8.92 percentage points in Q1 2019.
For Q1 2019, only 2 of six indicators have climbed upwards on a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, 4 of six indicators have risen upwards for Q1 2019.
The transportation, services and wholesale sectors have emerged as the most upbeat sectors while the construction and mining sectors are the least optimistic.
Compared to 2018, firms are more upbeat about investments for business expansion in 2019.
There is a visible jump in firms expecting investments to rise from 18 per cent in 2018 to 26 per cent in 2019.
Meanwhile, the proportion of firms expecting investments to decrease fell further from 15 per cent for 2018 to 7 per cent in 2019.
Majority of local firms had anticipated investments to remain unchanged at 67 per cent.
The D&B Malaysia Index (BOI) is a measure of business confidence in the economy. Released quarterly, it is based on a business sentiment survey that is designed to capture business expectations and is one of the most effective ways to track how the business community perceives the business environment, and where they think it is moving.
This is the 24th D&B BOI study being released in Malaysia.
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