Harare, (New Ziana) –Businesses in the wholesale and retail trade sector are struggling to access bank credit, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) has reported. Bank credit for businesses can include loans, lines of credit, and other financial assistance programs.
“About 63 percent of respondents perceived access to bank credit as being difficult with no respondent reporting it as easy,” ZIMSTAT said in its second quarter Business Tendency Survey (BTS) report released on Friday.
The BTS indicators are key in monitoring the current business situation and short-term developments in the sector. Key indicators derived from the survey comprise the Confidence Index and Balance of Opinion or Net Balance.
According to the report, 46.3 percent of business people surveyed considered competition, a major limiting factor to business growth, to be normal during the quarter under review excluding normal seasonal variations.
However, there was an improvement in the sector confidence index when compared to the first quarter of the year with the report stating that although remaining in the negative, the confidence improved from 11.5 recorded in the first quarter to 5.6 during the quarter under review.
“Of the 75 respondents, 35.4 percent had the opinion that the general business climate was satisfactory during the quarter under review. About 40 percent of the respondents considered their financial situation as satisfactory during the second quarter of 2024. Excluding normal variations, 53 percent of respondents considered their companies level of stocks to be below normal during the second quarter of 2024,” said ZIMSTAT.
“Excluding normal seasonal changes, 62.6 percent of respondents viewed the average selling price as having remained unchanged during the second quarter of 2024 when compared to the preceding quarter.
The proportion of respondents who regarded the number of persons employed by their establishments as having remained unchanged during the quarter under review was 72.3 percent. The proportion of respondents expecting the business situation to be the same during the third quarter of 2024 when compared to the second quarter of 2024 was 68.1 percent.
About 73 percent of respondents anticipated the numbers of their employees to remain unchanged during the third quarter.”
ZIMSTAT said around 41 percent of respondents anticipated their volumes of demand to remain unchanged while 75 percent anticipated selling prices will remain stable during the third quarter of 2024.
The results are based on the views of senior executives in the sector and pertain to the general business situation, financial situation, access to credit, technical capacity, employment, selling prices, volume of orders, and main challenges encountered. The BTS is conducted on a quarterly basis with current results based on responses from 75 establishments in the sector.
Confidence indices are compiled using an average of the balances of opinions on questions relating to the present business situation, the current level of total order books, the current level of stock, employment expectations in the next three months, and business situation in the next three months.
Positive values of the indicator reflect optimism towards the business conditions while negative values imply pessimism and zero reflects a perception of no change in the business situation.
New Ziana
