Business confidence among small and medium-sized enterprises in Hong Kong in the second half of last year bounced back to pre-financial crisis levels, according to a survey by HSBC Holdings.
The HSBC Small Business Confidence Monitor, conducted twice a year, surveyed more than 6,000 SMEs across 20 markets globally over their economic outlook, capital investment and recruitment plans. All markets were in positive territory except for France, with emerging markets scoring significantly higher than developed markets on the whole.
Hong Kong climbed 25 points in the survey, to 108 out of 200, against an Asian average of 122, the highest jump in Asia, but lags behind Vietnam, India, China and Singapore.
Sandy Flockhart, the chairman of personal and commercial banking, said that despite the strong rebound, SMEs in Hong Kong are probably 'more pragmatic and less exuberant' than elsewhere given that the downturn affected companies in the city much greater than the rest of Asia.
'Hong Kong SMEs are coming out of quite a steep 'V', but it's good that we're now in positive territory,' he added.
Almost one-third of respondents in Hong Kong said they would increase capital expenditure in the first half of this year. Fourteen per cent say they will be hiring, the highest level since the survey began at the end of 2007.
