The Jersey Business Tendency Survey (BTS) is a quarterly survey that provides qualitative information about the Island’s economy in a timely manner.

The survey covers private sector businesses in Jersey. The survey asks the chief executive or managing director of sampled businesses for their opinions on the current situation of their business compared to three months earlier and their expectations for the next three months.

The headline all-sector Business Activity Indicator was 7 percentage points (pp), implying that the proportion of businesses in Jersey reporting an increase in business activity compared with three months previously was 7 pp greater than the proportion reporting a decrease. The all-sector Business Activity indicator was less positive than in December 2015.

For the Finance sector:

• two of the indicators improved compared with the previous quarter, three declined and five were relatively unchanged
• the New Business indicator saw the greatest improvement, returning to the strongly positive level seen in the first half of 2015
• the Future Employment indicator saw the greatest decline compared with the previous quarter, down from being strongly positive to marginally positive, whilst the Future Business Activity and Capacity Utilisation indicators also declined but remained positive

For the non-finance sectors:

• overall eight of the ten indicators were essentially unchanged. Future Business Activity improved whilst Business Activity declined, becoming negative for the first time in two years
• the Construction sector reported a generally more negative perspective than in the previous quarter, with five of the ten indicators declining and five indicators being essentially unchanged
• for the Wholesale & retail sector, two of the ten indicators improved in the latest quarter, four declined and four were essentially unchanged. The Business Activity and New Business indicators declined to their lowest levels for two years. In contrast, the Input Costs indicator improved but remained negative