Business owners are optimistic that the conditions for doing business in Nigeria will improve in August 2024, and the following six months.
According to the recent Business Expectations report by the Central Bank of Nigeria, business owners expect businesses to perform better in August with an optimism index of 7.6 points.
In the next three months, the optimism index for businesses was slated at 19.3 points while the optimism index for the next six months was 30.7.
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“The expected drivers for the optimism on the macroeconomy in the next month are Mining, Quarrying, Electricity, Gas & Water Supply (35.3 points), Agriculture (9.9 points), Market Services (7.8 points), Manufacturing (6.3 points), and Non-Market Services (4.8 points),” the report said.
In July 2024, the overall confidence index stood at 0.1 points, although it dropped by 3.0 points compared to the confidence levels reached in June 2024.
“Business sentiment across most broad sectors was pessimistic in July but with projected improvements in the next month. The indices of the Industrial, Agriculture, and Services Sectors stood at -1.0, 1.0, and -0.3 points. The Construction, Non-Market, and Manufacturing Sectors were pessimistic at –5.6. -3.4 and -1.5 points respectively,” it said.
The CBN’s Business Expectations Survey measures overall confidence in macroeconomic conditions. The survey sampled 1,600 business owners in the country covering different sectors of the economy.
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An index above 0.0 points indicates positive sentiment, while an index below 0.0 points indicates negative sentiment on business activity. The last BES report published by the CBN was in December 2020.
