BC’s small business confidence rose eight points in April according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The increase comes after optimism suffered its biggest drop in over a decade during March.
Senior Policy Analyst, Muriel Protzer told Vista Radio the gain had more to do with fewer business owners being pessimistic.
“There is still a lot of uncertainty as the pandemic is still ongoing at this point and a lot of small businesses are still having a lot of questions and difficulty navigating the financial support program.”
“Small businesses are still having cash flow problems and making sure that they are able to eventually get to a point where they can rely more heavily on their revenues as they normally would is absolutely essential.”
She adds employees are itching to get back to work as they await the province’s re-opening, which is slated to come sometime in May.
Protzer adds many business owners are focusing on how the provincial government plans to re-open the economy.
She states while the financial help from the government has been appreciated, one in three small businesses that were polled in the survey might have to close permanently due to COVID-19.
“That’s how severe it is, so making sure that these businesses can successfully transition off of these financial support programs and back into revenues themselves, reopening their business and getting employees back to work is so important.”
“I think it’s very evident that small businesses are looking for that confidence boost from the province in terms of having a plan on a go-forward basis and what that would look like for them.”
The provincial confidence ratings for April are as follows:
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- Ontario 52.6
- Saskatchewan 50.8
- Alberta 46.7
- BC 46.0
- Nova Scotia 45.3
- Manitoba 45.0
- PEI 43.1
- New Brunswick 39.2
- Newfoundland 32.1
- Quebec 32.1
