SBP To Launch A Business Confidence Survey

Continuing with the spirit of seeking input from its main stakeholders, State Bank of Pakistan is now planning to obtain opinion of firms about current and expected business conditions in the country.

The Business Confidence Survey (BCS) will be a telephonic survey lasting between 7 to 10 minutes with a senior executive of participating firms, requiring them to answer some quick questions.

This survey will be conducted all over the country during October 2017 and will be repeated periodically. All the information collected through the survey will be treated as strictly confidential and will not be shared with any other person or entity.

Furthermore, it will not be used for any purpose other than research on economic conditions. SBP is conducting this survey with the collaboration of Institute of Business Administration, Karachi.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) regulates the monetary and credit system of Pakistan and fosters its growth in the best national interest with a view to secure monetary stability and proper utilisation of the country’s productive resources.

Like many other central banks, it weighs up the public and firms perceptions about prevailing and expected economic conditions as an important part of its monetary policy formulation process.

SBP encourages all firms operating in different areas and sectors to participate in this survey in favor of national interest.

Consumer Confidence Survey

SBP is already conducting telephonic surveys of households (Consumer Confidence Survey-CCS) that are selected randomly across the country. These surveys are conducted after every two months and provide information on “what people are thinking” about current and future economic conditions, future trends in inflation, interest rates, unemployment, and their household income. Such information are helpful in the monetary policy formulation.

The recent Consumers’ confidence survey result showed that Pakistan’s economy witnessed improvement.

The overall Consumer Confidence Index increased by 5.07 percent compared to the previous survey, held in July 2017. The improvement in consumer confidence is reflected in the increase in Current Economic Conditions Index as well as Expected Economic Conditions Index.

Moreover, the index which shows inflation expectations also increased by 2.6 percent during this period.