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Message: <blockquote data-quote="saraprobe" data-source="post: 840601" data-attributes="member: 13914">Business Confidence ReboundsThe October edition of LMD, which releases on Wednesday, brings some welcome news for President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his beleaguered government. A spokesperson for Media Services, LMD’s publisher, speaking exclusively to the Financial Times reveals: “First, an exclusive island-wide opinion poll commissioned by LMD and undertaken by TNS Lanka finds that the President continues to be popular with the masses, despite what’s going around him and in Parliament. Then, the LMD-ACNielsen Business Confidence Index or BCI gained a noteworthy 25 basis points in September, to move up to 93 – a quantum leap in the context of its recent track record.”LMD notes that the BCI, which is the only measure of business confidence in this country, had previously edged its way down from 78 to 68 between May and August.“The extraordinary hype surrounding the forthcoming fiscal budget is not, it has to be said, because of what it is likely to contain – most of this has possibly been gazetted already,” the pioneering magazine contends. “Instead, a crucial budget vote that many view as being an opportunity for ‘regime change’ is possibly amongst the main reasons for the unexpected rise in the index,” the spokesperson adds. The September BCI represents a five-month high in business sentiment.But as LMD observes, the index is still 33 points below its all-time average of 126. On the contrary, it is now higher than its 2007 mean of 90 and well clear of its all-time of low of 31.The number of businesspeople who say that our economy will “improve” or “stay the same” hasn’t changed from a month ago, the survey finds. “So, around three-quarters of Nielsen’s sample population from amongst the business community have contended that the economy will ‘get worse’ for five successive months,” LMD emphasises.On the other hand, there’s apparently been a turnaround in sales volumes in the last three months, according to the widely read journal, with 13 per cent saying there’s been an increase and 45 per cent saying there’s been no change. “This is a healthy sign”, the spokesperson points out, because “some 75 per cent confessed to absorbing a decline in sales just a month ago”.The investment climate, however, remains in the doldrums according to the monthly opinion poll carried out by leading research firm The Nielsen Company.“Nearly seven out of 10 (from a massive 85 per cent a month ago) of those polled view Sri Lanka’s investment prospects as being ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, with another quarter judging the environment as ‘fair’. This leaves a measly six per cent who insist that our investment climate is ‘good’ and none say it’s ‘very good’,” LMD reports. <a href="http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/09/29/ft/9.asp" target="_blank">DM</a></blockquote>

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