KUALA LUMPUR: The rise in the Statistics Department’s confidence indicator to 4.7% from 0.7% in the second quarter of this year (2Q24) indicates companies are more optimistic about the business environment for 3Q24.

All sectors forecast a brighter business outlook for 3Q24, according to chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

“Business sentiment in the industry sector remains favourable with 4.1% in the reference quarter against 5.3% in the last quarter.

“This positive sentiment was contributed by the rising confidence from all industry sub-sectors with electricity and water at 23.3%, mining 6.7%, manufacturing 2%, and agriculture 0.6%,” Mohd Uzir said in a statement on the business tendency statistics for 3Q24.

The services sector’s confidence indicator rebounded to positive territory at 8.3% in the current quarter from minus 0.9% in 2Q, the Statistics Department said.

“The turnaround was driven by improvement in the confidence indicators of health (40%), followed by insurance (20.6%) and accommodation (16.7%) sub-sectors,” it said.

The Statistic Department said the confidence indicator for the construction sector also turned positive by 2.2% for 3Q24, compared with a decline of 14.8% in the preceding quarter. Similarly, sentiment within the wholesale and retail trade sector moved to a positive direction by registering 1.4% against dip of 4.1% in the previous quarter.

On the prospects for the rest of the year, the Statistics Department said businesses foresee an encouraging outlook with a net balance of 23.5% compared with the 14.9% registered for the April to September period. - Bernama

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2024/08/28/companies-optimistic-about-business-environment-in-3q24