The Canadian Finance and Leasing Association (CFLA) released its Q3/22 and Q4/22 Industry Business Confidence survey results, reporting 28% of respondents expect new business volumes to decrease and 60% expect overall margins to fall over the next six months, which marks the highest figures of negative outlooks on record. Sentiment on most responses was at its lowest since the survey’s inception in 2019.
“With high inflation and chatter of a looming recession, I wasn’t surprised to see some pessimism,” Michael Rothe, president and CEO of the CFLA, said. “I know we have some hard work ahead of us, but I’m confident our members will continue supplying Canadians with the resources they need to make the best of the tough economic headwinds.”
The CFLA’s research committee shortened the survey this year, asking respondents about their outlooks on business volumes, margins, debt ratios, credit approvals, mergers and acquisitions, availability of capital, delinquency rates and staffing.
“Despite low sentiment across most responses, we did see some silver linings,” Hugh Swandel, chair of the research committee of the CFLA and president of Meridian OneCap Credit, said “Respondents expect the availability of capital will stay the same over the next six months, and staffing levels for both sales and non-sales roles will remain constant or increase.”
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