SMEs-biz outlook
SME biz confidence drops for 4th month for Feb.: poll
SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korean smaller firms' business outlook fell for the fourth straight month for February amid a slowing economy, a poll showed Monday.
The survey of 3,150 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) showed the small business health index (SBHI) stood at 77.6 for next month, down 0.1 point from January.
The index has been weakening on-month since November last year.
A reading below 100 indicates pessimists outnumber optimists. The survey was taken by the Korea Federation of SMEs from Jan. 13-20.
The decline comes amid sluggish exports and domestic demand, which led to slower economic growth in 2022. South Korea's economy grew 2.6 percent in 2022 from the previous year, compared with a 4.1 percent on-year increase a year earlier.
According to the findings, the SBHI for the manufacturing sector rose to 81.1 from 79.6 over the cited period, with that for non-manufacturing companies falling to 76.1 from 77.5.
Some 60 percent of the respondents cited sluggish domestic demand as the biggest hurdle to their management, followed by high labor costs (55.5 percent), rising raw materials costs (39.5 percent) and cutthroat competition (33.5 percent).
The average capacity utilization rate of manufacturing SMEs came to 72 percent in January, down 0.5 percentage point from the prior month.
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