The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (June 10) the results of the Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) for May 2022.
 
     The current diffusion index (DI) on business receipts amongst SMEs increased slightly from 48.3 in April 2022 in the contractionary zone to 48.6 in May 2022, whereas the one-month's ahead (i.e. June 2022) outlook DI on business receipts was 51.3. Analysed by sector, the current DIs on business receipts for some surveyed sectors increased in May 2022 as compared with previous month, including business services (from 43.1 to 50.0) and import and export trades (from 45.4 to 47.2). On the other hand, decreases were observed in some sectors including real estate (from 53.5 to 45.6) and retail trade (from 53.1 to 49.4).

     The current DI on new orders for the import and export trades edged up from 46.5 in April 2022 to 46.6 in May 2022, whereas the outlook DI on new orders in one month's time (i.e. June 2022) was 50.3.
 
Commentary
 
     A Government spokesman said that overall business sentiment among SMEs remained stable in May amid the moderated local epidemic situation, though different sectors showed varied performance. The employment situation also stabilised. Views on the business situation in the coming month stayed positive.
 
     The spokesman pointed out that while rampant inflation in some major economies, monetary policy tightening by respective central banks and tensions in Ukraine will continue to cloud global economic outlook, the stable local epidemic situation should help support business sentiment in the near term. Therefore, it remains crucial for the community to work in unison with the Government to keep the epidemic contained. The Government will monitor the situation closely.
 
Further information

      The Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises aims to provide a quick reference, with minimum time lag, for assessing the short-term business situation faced by SMEs. SMEs covered in this survey refer to establishments with fewer than 50 persons engaged. Respondents were asked to exclude seasonal fluctuations in reporting their views. Based on the views collected from the survey, a set of diffusion indices (including current and outlook diffusion indices) is compiled. A reading above 50 indicates that the business condition is generally favourable, whereas that below 50 indicates otherwise. As for statistics on the business prospects of prominent establishments in Hong Kong, users may refer to the publication entitled "Report on Quarterly Business Tendency Survey" released by the C&SD.
 
     The results of the survey should be interpreted with care. The survey solicits feedback from a panel sample of about 600 SMEs each month and the survey findings are thus subject to sample size constraint. Views collected from the survey refer only to those of respondents on their own establishments rather than those on the respective sectors they are engaged in. Besides, in this type of opinion survey on expected business situation, the views collected in the survey are affected by the events in the community occurring around the time of enumeration, and it is difficult to establish precisely the extent to which respondents' perception of the business situation accords with the underlying trends. For this survey, main bulk of the data were collected around the last week of the reference month.
 
     More detailed statistics are given in the "Report on Monthly Survey on the Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises". Users can download the publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1080015&scode=300).
 
     Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact the Industrial Production Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7246; email: sme-survey@censtatd.gov.hk).

Ends/Friday, June 10, 2022
Issued at HKT 16:30

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