The quarterly Jersey Business Tendency Survey (BTS) provides timely, qualitative information about the Island’s economy.

Chief executives and managing directors are asked for their opinions on the current situation of their business compared to three months earlier and their expectations for the next three months.

In September 2017:

• the headline all-sector business activity indicator was +7 percentage points (pp); this means the proportion of businesses reporting an increase was 7 pp greater than those reporting a decrease
• the business activity indicator was significantly lower than three months ago, when it was +25 pp
• six out of the eight current indicators were positive; only profitability and input costs were negative
• the product prices and business optimism indicators were both positive, but both were slightly lower than last quarter
• three indicators changed by more than 10 pp; the business activity indicator decreased 18 pp to a slightly positive +7 pp, and new business decreased from +23 pp to +12 pp, whereas the input costs indicator was less negative, rising from -55 pp to -39 pp
• the profitability indicator was positive for the finance sector, indicating more companies reported increases in profits than decreases, while it was negative for other sectors
• 44% of companies reported higher input costs, producing a strongly negative indicator of -39 pp; this was more acute for the non-finance sector, where over half (57%) of businesses reported higher costs
• the wholesale and retail sector had indicators of -57 pp for input costs and +51 pp for product prices, indicating that the sector has broadly started passing on its higher costs to consumers
• the finance sector was more positive than the non-finance sector; six of the eight indicators relating to the current situation were more positive for the finance sector, two of them by over 20 pp
• the all-sector future business activity indicator was positive, with the finance sector being strongly positive about future business and the non-finance sector being neutral
• the outlook for future employment was positive overall, driven by the strongly positive finance sector, while the non-finance sector was neutral