Results Business survey for the year 2018

WILLEMSTAD - The Central Bureau of Statistics announces some of the results of the December 2018 Business Survey. The purpose of this survey is to provide up-to-date information on business and economic parameters and developments on a regular basis, twice a year. It must also provide insight into the expectations and opinions of entrepreneurs.

The companies were approached during this period via e-mail (67%) and through interviewers (33%). Small, medium-sized and large companies were visited for the research. A sample was taken of the smaller companies (from three to ten employees).

Main results Business year 2018

- More than 46 percent of the companies approached indicated to have invested in the second half of 2018. That is 2 percentage points more than both December 2017 and June 2018.

- 33 percent of the companies indicated that there were investment barriers. This is slightly less (2%) compared to June 2018.

- In the opinion of the entrepreneurs, confidence in the economy has slightly diminished over the past period (second half of 2018). The proportion of companies that have indicated that confidence in the economy has decreased has increased from 40 to 42 percent.

- The opinion regarding the investment climate remained unchanged in the last half of the year. The percentage of companies that have indicated that they think the climate is poor has not changed at 37 percent. Also, in the second half of 2018, most companies (58%) assessed the investment climate as being 'moderate'. The proportion of companies that have indicated that they find the climate good has remained unchanged at 5 percent.

- The percentage of companies where turnover has increased compared to 2017 has remained virtually unchanged; changed from 38 to 37 percent. Many more companies, 56 percent, have had to deal with a decrease in turnover. As of December 2017, this percentage was still 49 percent. More than half of the respondents indicated that they had a reduction in turnover.

- The business cycle index fell in 2018 from 64% in the month of June to 60.5% in December 2018.




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