by AZALEA AZUAR / Pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

BUSINESSES in Malaysia are expected to remain positive for the second quarter of this year (2Q22) despite a slower pace.

Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said businesses have registered a 3.5% increase in confidence from a 7.6% increase in 2Q21.

“Despite the reopening of Malaysia’s international borders which anticipates spur economic activities, businesses stay cautious towards their prospect amid inflation pressure, supply chain and labour shortages issues,” he said in a statement today.

He forecasted that business conditions from all sectors (except construction) will improve in 2Q22 with wholesale and retail trade (15.5%) and its subsectors in wholesale trade and retail trade, services (5.6%) industry (0.8%).

However, he warned that the agriculture and mining subsectors will face unfavourable business conditions while the confidence indicator for construction better posted an improvement in negative results with -23.2% in 2Q22 as against -40.4% in 1Q22.

In terms of gross revenue, 45.2%of respondents have predicted an increase in the current quarter while 19% expect a reduction which will further lead to a net balance of 26.2% while 35.8% of respondents anticipate their gross revenue to stagnant.

Meanwhile, 72.2% of businesses expect their manpower to remain the same even with a net balance of 10.8%; 19.3% want to hire more staff and 8.5% are aiming for retrenchment in 2Q22.

Businesses are keeping positive on their outlook between April to September with a net balance of 25%, a slight increase from 18.9% recorded previously which has been supported by better sentiments in the wholesale and retail trade, industry and services sectors.

On the other hand, Mohd Uzir expected a favourable business outlook in the wholesale and retail trade sector in the forthcoming six months with a net balance of 50% as against 27% for 1H22 while the industry sector expects a better business situation with a net balance of 22.1% from 17.7% recorded previously.

The services sector also foresees a better business situation with a net balance of 23.6% which remains at a positive trajectory but does not share the same sentiment as construction as it is more likely to remain in the pessimistic trajectory in the next six months with an improved net balance to -25% as against -30.8%.

DoSM released its “Business Tendency Statistics for the Second Quarter 2022” report which presents the country’s business performance for the upcoming quarter and six months ahead. 

The insights are based on the “Business Tendency Survey” which is conducted on a quarterly basis.