OCBC SME Index: Which sectors are the best and worst performers of 4Q23?

Overall, SMEs' performance and health remained in a state of contraction with a 49.5 reading.

The performance and health of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore continued to deteriorate in 4Q23, according to the latest OCBC SME Index.

SMEs remained in a state of contraction for the fourth consecutive quarter in 4Q23 with a 49.5 reading, lower than the 49.6 reading in 3Q23.

“SME collections and payments dropped by 3.1% and 2.0% year-on-year against the backdrop of soft external demand and domestic cost challenges,” OCBC reported.

Based on the latest reading, Retail (50.9), Building & Construction (50.3), and Healthcare (50.2) were the only industries in the expansionary territory.

On the flip side, several consumer-facing industries such as F&B (49.6), Education (49.7) and Business Services (49.3), turned slightly contractionary for the first time after multiple quarters of expansion.

Remaining in the contractionary territory were Resources (49.7), Manufacturing (49.4), Wholesale Trade (49.1), ICT (48.3), and Transport and Logistics (47.8).

“The OCBC SME Index is likely to remain flat in the near term due
to weak demand and growing business costs, before potentially
turning expansionary in the latter part of the year with a recovery
in manufacturing and the externally oriented sectors,” OCBC said.

Follow the link for more news on

OCBC Bank

OCBC SME Index

A NOTE FROM SINGAPORE BUSINESS REVIEW

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia