More Small Firms Optimistic About Future Business

An increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises are becoming optimistic about business this fall.

The business survey index for September stood at 88.6 points, up seven points from a month earlier, according to a recent survey of 1,370 SMEs nationwide by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business published on Tuesday.

The BSI measures businesses’ outlook and a reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists, but this was the first time in five months that the number of optimists increased.

"Small and medium-sized manufacturers suffered a serious slump in the wake of the April ferry disaster and summer vacations," KBIZ said. "But a growing number of SMEs predict a better business environment, probably because the government has announced new economic polices since new Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan took office and interest rates dropped."

But the business performance index fell 0.7 points in August, down for the eighth consecutive month. The average rate of operation at SME manufacturers also dropped 0.5 percentage points in July from a month earlier.