Small and medium-sized businesses in North America and other developed economies have been less confident about the future than their counterparts in emerging markets around the world.
HSBC Bank’s semi-annual global small business confidence monitor found that business confidence among SMEs fell 6% in Canada, 10% in the U.S. and 13% in the U.K.
In contrast, SMEs in emerging markets continued to exhibit growing optimism over the past six months. Regions with the most optimistic outlooks included Saudi Arabia (+20%), India (+18%), Singapore (9%) and Argentina (9%).
In Canada, while nearly three-quarters of respondents think local GDP growth will keep the same pace of the past six months, the same proportion of business owners expect the economy to increase (14%) as those that expect it to slow down (14%).
About 76% of Canadian SME owners don’t plan to change their hiring plans over the next half year, with 21% planning to hire more staff, down from 24% six months ago.
Nearly 60% said they don’t’ plan to change their plans with respect to capital investment.
Mark Watkinson, executive vice-president at HSBC Bank Canada said Canadian businesses seem prepared for a slower economic recovery than expected. “Businesses are clearly feeling the impact as higher household debt levels have begun to dampen consumer spending.”