Business confidence in B.C. dropping

September 16, 2022

Small and medium enterprise Business Barometer readings released last week by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business point to eroding confidence in B.C.

Both the short-term (three-month) and long-term (12-month) Business Barometer readings fell again, with the former down to 46.7 points (down 2.7 points month to month [m/m] and 11.7 points year to year [y/y]) and the latter at 50.8 points (down 3.7 points m/m and 21.1 points y/y). This marked a fourth consecutive monthly decline for the short-term index and the third consecutive decrease for the long-term index. While some of this downtrend likely reflects the benefits of a comparatively strong growth performance over the past year in the province, factors such as slowing demand, a housing recession, high inflation and interest rates are contributing to the slide. The latter two factors were also noted as headwinds in Statistics Canada’s Canadian Survey of Business conditions. Provincially, B.C.’s index was among the lowest in the country with a national short-term reading of 50 points (up three points m/m) and long-term reading of 53.5 points (unchanged m/m).

Source: Business in Vancouver