Confidence of GBA businesses drops in Q2

The confidence index of business dropped to the 50 neutral mark.

Companies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) have become slightly less confident with their business, data from the GBA Business Confidence Index (GBAI) showed.

According to the GBAI, the business confidence of GBA companies slipped to the 50 mark in 2Q23 from 51.3 in 1Q23. 

"The softer Q2 GBAI readings were expected considering the strong first-quarter GBAI performance brought by Mainland China's swift post-COVID sentiment rebound," the report said.

"The dip in the index in Q2 reflects the normalisation of base effects, softening of nationwide macro data quarter-to-date, and the novelty of reopening was bound to wear off," the report added.

Business expectations of GBA companies, however, remained in the expansionary territory at 58.7, the second-highest reading in two years. 

Amongst industries, Professional Services (56.1)  showed the strongest improvement in the performance index, jumping 4.0 points to 56.1.