Gwangju and Jeonnam SMEs' Economic Outlook Rises for Three Consecutive Months

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] In December, the Small and Medium Business Outlook Index (SBHI) for the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions rose by 6.6 points from the previous month to 99.

Starting from September (76.5), the index continued its upward trend for three consecutive months with October (88.8) and November (92.4).

The Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Headquarters of the Korea Federation of SMEs (Head Lee Chang-ho) conducted a business outlook survey targeting 209 SMEs in Gwangju and Jeonnam from the 15th to the 22nd and announced these results.

An index above 100 indicates that more companies have a positive outlook on the economy, while below 100 indicates the opposite.

By region, Gwangju was forecasted at 96.8, up 2.8 points from the previous month (94.0), and Jeonnam was forecasted at 102.4, up 12.7 points from the previous month (89.7).

By industry, manufacturing scored 100.5, up 5.0 points from the previous month (95.5), and non-manufacturing scored 97.7, up 8.3 points from the previous month (89.4).

The main management difficulties faced by local SMEs in November (multiple responses allowed) were led by rising raw material prices (56.0%), followed by sluggish domestic demand (52.2%), excessive competition among companies (48.3%), and rising labor costs (45.0%).

The average operating rate of small and medium manufacturing companies in October was 70.2%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points from the previous month (69.5%).