HK SMEs more confident of business prospects: survey

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, October 31, 2003

HK SMEs more confident of business prospects: survey

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The latest Business Operating Environment Index for Hong Kong small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) released by the SME Center of the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) on Thursday showed that local companies are more confident of their business prospects.

The survey on "Business Operating Environment Index for SMEs," introduced in 1998, was conducted quarterly to gauge the views of Hong Kong's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the areas of market opportunity, financial and investment situation, operating costs, human resources and risk assessment.

In this survey, a total of 588 SMEs were interviewed, of which 333 came from the services sector and 255 from the manufacturing sector.

Commenting on the findings, Vincent Li, General Manager (Enterprise Enhancement Services) of HKPC said, "The overall index of 10.36 percent, an increase of 7 percentage points compared to the last survey, represents the highest index ever recorded."

The signing of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between the Mainland and Hong Kong (CEPA) and the commencement of the Mainland residents' 'individual visit' scheme have helped to boost the confidence of local SMEs on their business prospects for the fourth quarter (October to December), he said.

In terms of sectoral difference, the overall business operatingindexes for both manufacturing and services industries have increased by 4 and 9 percentage points, reporting 11.3 percent and9.6 percent, respectively.

All major industries recorded significant increase in the indexes, with retail and wholesale, logistics and trade services having bounced back to positive territories, the survey showed. ��

The survey also gauged local SMEs' views on the impacts of CEPA.. It found that 29 percent of companies from the services sector and28 percent from the manufacturing industry agreed that they would benefit from CEPA.

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