The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) conducts several surveys, such as the Business Expectations Survey (BES), to obtain feedback from businesses on general business conditions and their sentiments on the outlook for the economy. These surveys provide an industry or sectoral perspective on the economy while supplementing information and data gaps due to the limitations in timely official data on sectoral developments.
This article discusses the methodology and relevance of the BES to our monetary policy analysis.
What is the Survey about?
The BES is conducted bi-annually in June and December each year to gauge expectations of business conditions and outlook for the economy over the near (three months) and medium (twelve months) terms.
The survey covers expectations on key economic indicators such as production, employment, sales, inflation, interest rates, input costs (wages, raw materials and imports), investment (in plant & machinery and buildings) and overall business conditions.