Dubai businesses expect stronger sales
Quarterly survey shows new projects and seasonal rise in demand behind improved outlook
Aquarterly business survey by the Department of Economic Development (DED) showed that more than 88 per cent of the businesses foresee stronger sales and revenues throughout the rest of the year due to new projects and seasonal increase in tourist arrivals.
Dubai’s services sector is the most confident of the future, followed by manufacturing. Overall, the Business Confidence Index (BCI) in Dubai moved up to 118.5 points during the third quarter of 2018, from 112.7 points in the second quarter.
Projections for sales revenues for the fourth quarter of 2018 are generally stronger compared to the third quarter with net balance up from 33 per cent to 42 per cent. The seasonal rise in demand has resulted in a stronger outlook for volumes; the net balance has increased from 29 per cent for the third quarter to 34 per cent for the fourth quarter. Nearly half (46 per cent) of the respondents anticipate higher volumes during the fourth quarter, bolstered by higher demand, more customers and new projects while 42 per cent expect stable conditions.
While the services sector is most confident about its business prospects across all parameters — revenues, pricing, volumes, hiring, profits and new purchase orders — the trading sector is the least optimistic and that too across all parameters in the survey.
The survey also reveals that domestic market-oriented firms hold stronger predictions than exporters for all parameters of the survey with BCI scores of 118.5 and 111.6 points, respectively. BCIs for SMEs and large companies is recorded at 111.0 and 123.5 points, respectively.
The proportion of firms that anticipate an improvement in the business environment stands at 52 per cent for the fourth quarter (compared to 45 per cent for the third quarter) and 39 per cent expect stable results in the final quarter. Further, 43 per cent of the survey respondents do not anticipate any obstacles to their business operations in the fourth quarter.
118.5
Dubai’s Business Confidence Index in third quarter