The business sentiment gap between conglomerates and smaller firms has widened, suggesting recent signals for economic recovery were mostly limited to the market’s upper clusters, data showed Tuesday.
 

The business survey index of domestic companies for December stood at 80, up two points from the previous month, according to the central Bank of Korea. The given figure for manufacturing firms was 83, also up two points from a month earlier.

A BSI figure below 100 indicates an overruling pessimistic sentiment over the market, while a figure exceeding 100 reflects optimism.

Despite the general improvement, however, a widening gap was observed between the market’s heavyweights and small and medium-sized firms.

The BSI for conglomerates rose four points to 90, while that for SMEs remained at 72 for another month. The 18-point gap marks the widest observed since December last year.

“The recent economic recovery was mostly steered by conglomerates’ exports,” said an official of the central bank.

“Also, smaller firms tend to be more vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations.”

This year, the BSI figure has remained below 100 all throughout the year, making the first such case since the Asian financial crisis in 1997-1998, according to officials.

The monthly index was based on a survey conducted from Nov. 13-20 with 2,778 companies here participating.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)