PETALING JAYA: Business sentiment among Malaysia companies has increased for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q12020, according to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Malaysia’s Business Optimism Index (BOI) study.
In a statement today, D&B said on a year-on-year (yoy) basis, the BOI increased by 1.30 percentage points to 10.22 percentage points in Q12020, from 8.92 percentage points in Q12019.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the index inched up by 0.64 percentage points to 10.22 percentage points in Q12020, from 9.58 percentage points in Q42019.
Dun & Bradstreet Malaysia Sdn Bhd CEO Audrey Chia said the Malaysian economy is on a promising path with the improved outlook is primarily driven by the services, transportation and mining sectors for the first quarter of 2020.
“However, we are also cautious in our outlook as growth is expected to remain modest as global manufacturing and investment downturn will continue to weigh on exports.
“Persistent trade tension and commodity-related shock is also placing pressure on Malaysia to expand its export market to reduce their dependence on its existing export pool, but as more countries are implementing protectionist measures – growth rates in the future are uncertain. Business investments have also remained relatively subdued, reflecting the elevated global trade uncertainties,” she said.
The six business indicators under the quarterly BOI study include volume of sales, net profits, selling price, inventory level, employees and new orders.
On a yoy basis, four of six indicators increased for the first quarter.
The volume of sales increased to 8.70 percentage points from 7.06 percentage points in Q1 2019, while net profits inched up to 11.11 percentage points from 8.82 percentage points previously.
Selling prices also jumped visibly from to 10.13 percentage points from 2.94 percentage points, and new orders climbed to 24.16 percentage points from 15.88 percentage points.
However, inventory levels plunged from to -1.93 percentage points from +8.82 percentage points in Q1 2020, while employment levels also dropped to 9.17 percentage points from 10 percentage points in the first quarter.
Looking ahead, D&B said for Q12020, the services, transportation and mining are the most optimistic sectors while the construction is most downbeat.
