Small and medium-sized enterprises in Hong Kong are seeing glimmers of hope as the border with the Chinese mainland has been reopened and anti-pandemic measures have been relaxed, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
The Standard Chartered Hong Kong SME Leading Business Index rebounded by 2.5 points to 46.7 for the first quarter of 2023, with increases in four of the five subindexes.
The sub indexes of Recruitment Sentiment and Investment Sentiment went up 0.5 points and 1.4 points respectively to go above the neutral level of 50, while the Global Economy subindex saw the biggest increase of 14.4 points quarter-on-quarter. The business condition went up by 3.2 points.
The gradual boundary reopening between Hong Kong and the mainland and a swift recovery of the mainland over the short-term pain of more Pandemic disruptions has helped boost the indices, said Kelvin Lau Kin-hangLau Kin-hang, Senior economist for Greater China, Standard Chartered Hong Kong.
The market atmosphere and business environment will pick up this year with the accelerated local and global recovery, according to Lau.
He said there would be a rebound after the peak of the Pandemic in the mainland, with the index promising to return to above 50 by the second half of the year.
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The SME Leading Business Index is a forward-looking survey on local SMEs' outlook on the business environment for the next quarter, sponsored by Standard Chartered Hong Kong. A reading above 50 indicates optimism among SMEs, while anything below 50 indicates a pessimistic outlook.
The Hong Kong Productivity Council interviewed 822 local SMEs in the first half of December 2022, including the manufacturing, import and export trade, retail, accommodation and catering services, information and communications, finance and insurance, professional and business services, real estate and construction industries.
Edmond Lai Shiao-bun, chief digital officer of HKPC, said the fieldwork period of this quarter coincided with the government s relaxation of pandemic measures and inbound travel control arrangements.
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With the commencement of the border reopening, the flow of people between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong will increase, which will in turn boost the recovery of the Hong Kong economy, he said.