Gwangju and Jeonnam SMEs' Business Sentiment Declines for Third Consecutive Month

Korea Federation of SMEs Announces May Economic Outlook for Gwangju and Jeonnam
Business Index at 76.2... Domestic Sales and Exports Both Sluggish
Slight Improvement in Employment, but Recovery Still Feels Distant

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions are still struggling to feel any signs of economic recovery.

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According to the "May SME Business Outlook Survey" released on April 29 by the Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Headquarters of the Korea Federation of SMEs, the Small Business Health Index (SBHI) for SMEs in this region was recorded at 76.2. This figure is 3.1 points lower than the previous month and 5.8 points lower than the same period last year. Although it was slightly higher than the national average of 75.7, it still failed to break out of a sluggish trend.

By region, Gwangju recorded 75.3 and Jeonnam 77.0. Compared to the previous month, Gwangju fell by 5.5 points and Jeonnam by 1.0 point.

By industry, the manufacturing sector stood at 81.9, down 6.5 points from the previous month, while the non-manufacturing sector rose slightly by 0.5 points to 69.3.

The outlook for detailed indicators was also bleak. Projections for domestic sales, exports, ordinary profits, and financial conditions all declined. In particular, the export outlook plummeted by 18.2 points compared to the previous month, marking the largest drop. Only the employment outlook showed a slight increase of 2.8 points.

The biggest challenges faced by SMEs in Gwangju and Jeonnam were "sluggish sales" (53.8%) and "rising labor costs" (39.6%).

The average operating rate in manufacturing, which reflects the atmosphere at production sites, improved somewhat. The overall average for Gwangju and Jeonnam was 71.7%, up 2.5 percentage points from the previous month. Gwangju rose to 73.9%, and Jeonnam increased to 69.7%.

The Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Headquarters of the Korea Federation of SMEs stated, "The perception of economic recovery remains low," and emphasized that "continued policy support and assistance in finance and market access are necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.