External industries such as manufacturing and wholesale trade have maintained expansion, and the domestically oriented construction and catering industries have also recovered steadily. However, information communication, education and transportation logistics are still in the contraction range, and the industry's performance is significantly differentiated.
The latest "Small and Medium Enterprises Index" report released by OCBC on Wednesday (July 16) showed that corporate collections and payments increased by 5.8% and 4.5% year-on-year respectively, and the industry generally showed improvement.
Nine of the 12 major industries recorded expansion, the manufacturing index rebounded to 50.6 driven by consumer goods, and the construction industry was driven by investment companies, and the index rose to 50.3. The catering industry also rebounded from 49.6 last quarter to 50.6, with wholesale trade performing the best, at 51.3.
OCBC Bank's SME Index has returned to the expansion range in the second quarter of this year since shrinking last quarter, but business owners are still mostly conservative about the outlook for the second half of the year. Faced with the weakening of tariff policies and external demand by the United States, the recovery foundation of small and medium-sized enterprises is still fragile.