SEOUL, July 18 (Xinhua) --A survey by HSBC, the British banking giant, showed that the majority of the South Korean small and medium firms (SMEs)in South Korea plans to cut capital spending in the second quarter, reflecting their pessimistic view of the nation's future economy, the Korea Herald reported on Friday.
Some 37 percent of South Korean SMEs participated in the survey, saying that they have plans to cut back capital spending, the highest figure among its regional peers, including China, Taiwan and India.
In terms of trade, the surveyed showed that South Korean SMEs were the least optimistic about trade prospects in the region. In particular, 16 percent of the participants expected trade with China to reduce by more than 4 percent.
However, despite the economic slowdown 85 percent of the South Korean SMEs said they had no plans to reduce employee numbers.
HSBC provides small businesses' outlook in the non-Japan Asia Pacific region for the next six months by surveying 3,008 small- and medium-sized enterprises in 10 countries; Korea, India, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. According to the bank, the outlook of small businesses is a key barometer of regional economic health.
