RIYADH: The Kingdom’s business community remains the most confident in the region, according to a new survey released on Saturday by HSBC, the global associate bank of SABB.
Dwelling on levels of confidence among entrepreneurs in the region, the report stressed that business confidence continues to increase in Saudi Arabia.
In Kuwait, confidence among businessmen also rose in the fourth quarter of 2009 but has declined slightly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Oman, the report stated.
HSBC’s quarterly Gulf Business Confidence Index fell from 81.4 to 80.2 between the third and fourth quarters of 2009. While this change is small, it masks a more complex regional picture: The Kingdom’s index rose marginally from 91.5 to 91.6, while Kuwait’s rose from 83.1 to 84.6. The UAE by contrast declined from 72.2 to 69.8 in the fourth quarter.
The main trend of business sentiment over the last three quarters is becoming slowly more confident, although it remains a long way below the exuberant mood of 2007 and early 2008. The first quarter of 2009 registered an index score of 70.9, so the year has seen a bounce of over 10 points in the index.
“We are seeing a slight dip in confidence levels quarter on quarter across the board,” said Simon Vaughan Johnson, HSBC’s head of commercial banking for the MENA region, “but we have not returned to the lows seen earlier in 2009. If I were to characterize the mood of the region’s business people, I would say they are cautiously realistic. 2009 was a difficult year for the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) economies, and there is a feeling that 2010 will be a year of improvement, tempered by a realism of expectation.
“Confidence is on the rise in the hydrocarbon-producing states of Saudi, Qatar and Kuwait, while the UAE’s score is clearly heavily influenced by Dubai’s well-publicized debt issues.”