Businesses expect conditions to improve in OECS

Basseterre, April 7, 2015.- The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) says businesses in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) expect an improvement in economic conditions in the sub-region for the first half of this year, compared with the corresponding period last year.

The ECCB said the results of its Business Outlook Survey (BOS), conducted during the period January 1 to February 13, show the respondents opinions also suggest that economic conditions for businesses for the period July to December 2014 improved slightly compared with the corresponding period of 2013.

The businesses surveyed indicated that the terms and conditions for lending set by the banks will tighten in the first half of this year relative to the January to June 2014 period.

“Of the businesses surveyed, 34.5 per cent indicated that terms and conditions for credit has tightened somewhat, while 31 per cent of business indicated that conditions have tightened significantly during July to December 2014 compared with the comparative period of 2013,” according to the results of the survey.

It said that respondents of the survey were asked to identify and rank those constraints in the business environment that negatively impact the operations of their businesses.

“Of the major problem/challenges facing businesses, the top six cited were, high utility rates/ fuel prices, cash flow/receivables, lack of skilled employees, low sales, high freight costs and the total tax burden,” the results showed.

The ECCB said the BOS was designed to capture, on a semi-annual basis, the opinions of businesses in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) member countries in respect of the current and expected state of their business operations, as well as the economies in which they operate.

The survey was conducted by consultants and statisticians in the ECCU. A minimum of 25 companies in each of the member countries was selected to participate. The other countries of the ECCU are Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.