The long-term small business confidence index for the next 12 months saw an increase of 6.1 points to 54.9 in February, according to the latest Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) Business Barometer®.
“This indicator has been steadily increasing since November 2023,” said the national organization.
In other positive news this month, small businesses’ average price (2.8%) and wage (2.5%) plans for the next 12 months continued their downward trend and are getting ever closer to their historical averages, it said.
However, the very restrictive monetary policy by the Bank of Canada continues negatively impacting small businesses. The share of small businesses reporting challenges with borrowing costs (48%) was still significantly higher than its historical average in February. Nearly half (49%) of survey respondents also reported struggling with insufficient demand. Both of these indicators are at or close to a historical high, added the CFIB.
“This February, the CFIB Business Barometer is showing business owners are seeing some hope on the horizon for the next 12 months. However, they’re not out of the woods yet with a Canadian economy in clear deceleration mode, and it will still take a few more months, and probably a few interest rate cuts, before a lot of them are finally able to grow and fully recover,” said Simon Gaudreault, CFIB’s chief economist and vice-president of research.
Mario Toneguzzi
Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list. He was also named by RETHINK to its global list of Top Retail Experts 2024.
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