Businesses more hopeful for 2025 but rising costs among top concerns

Sentiment picked up in Q4 2024, with 40% of companies satisfied with business climate

- Sheila Chiang

Businesses are increasingly confident about 2025, even as rising costs and demand uncertainty remain key concerns in the operating environment.

While the majority of companies feel the same, more businesses expect the economy to improve (26 per cent) from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2025, compared with the same period a year ago (22 per cent).

Business sentiment picked up in the fourth quarter, with 40 per cent of companies satisfied with the current business climate, up from 30 per cent in the second quarter, the Singapore Business Federation's (SBF) annual national business survey revealed.

The rest of the businesses maintained a neutral outlook (41 per cent) or are dissatisfied (18 per cent) with the current business climate.

Nearly one in three businesses (32 per cent) saw improvements in business conditions in the Asean region. This outperformed that of the global business climate, where the majority of businesses maintained a neutral outlook.

The survey, conducted from Oct 11 to Nov 11, 2024, interviewed 519 businesses across all key industries, of which 83 per cent are small and medium-sized enterprises and 17 per cent are large companies.