KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 ― Businesses remain cautious of their business performance with confidence indicator posting an improvement at -21.0 per cent in the third quarter of 2020 from -25.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the business performance expectation is influenced by the economic uncertainty with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic that is plaguing the world today.

"All sectors anticipate less favourable business situation in the third quarter of 2020. The confidence indicator for the construction sector improved to -23.7 per cent from -75.0 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.

"The wholesale and retail trade and services sectors also foresee better business performance at -22.3 per cent and -14.6 per cent, respectively, in the reference quarter compared to -51.5 per cent and -27.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2020,” said in a statement today.

Mohd Uzir was delivering findings from the Business Tendency Statistics Third Quarter 2020, released by Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), which presents expectations on business performance for the upcoming quarter and six months ahead.

Meanwhile, the industry sector foresees a significant decline of -24.0 per cent in this quarter as against -8.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

"Among all of the sub-sectors covered, three sub-sectors are optimistic towards their business sentiment namely communication, insurance, and information and communication technology (ICT),” he said.

Overall, 37.2 per cent of respondents foresee an increment in their gross revenue for the third quarter of 2020 while 29.8 per cent forecast a decrease in gross revenue which led to a net balance of +7.5 per cent.

In terms of number of employees, the recruitment trends are projected to decline in the third quarter of 2020 with a net balance -7.1 per cent.

"For the next six months, businesses predict better business situation despite negative trajectory for the period of July to December 2020 with a net balance of -11.2 per cent compared to -42.8 per cent in the previous quarter,” said Mohd Uzir.

The industry and services sectors expect a significant improvement with a net balance of -7.9 per cent and -4.8 per cent during the reference period compared to -26.7 per cent and -44.7 per cent, respectively.

Simultaneously, the wholesale and retail trade sector also predicts a better business performance with a net balance -34.2 per cent as against -81.2 per cent in the last quarter.

On the other hand, the construction sector anticipates their business performance to remain unchanged with a net balance of 0.0 per cent. ― Bernama