New data finds that the business sentiment of both small businesses and traditional markets worsened for two straight months as consumption dropped due to an economic slowdown and seasonal influences.
According to the Small Enterprise and Market Service on Tuesday, the business survey index(BSI) for small businesses stood at 57-point-three last month, down six-point-six points from June, to indicate that pessimists outnumber optimists with a reading below 100.
The BSI for traditional markets slipped ten-point-two percentage points to 40-point-seven during the same period.
As a result, small businesses and traditional markets both saw a drop in their BSI for the second consecutive month as the small business index posted its lowest figure in five months and that of traditional markets hit a 16-month low.
The latest figures were calculated after surveying 24-hundred small businesses and 13-hundred traditional market vendors between July 18 and 22.
Such businesses blamed the worsened sentiment on a drop in consumption resulting from an economic downturn, seasonal factors, monsoon rains and flood damage.