Description

The firms inform of a stabilized performance. After several quarters of steady deterioration, they say that their results were similar to those of the previous quarter. This reflects a more stable behavior of sales, costs, and prices, although they still maintain a view of narrow margins. In this sense, respondents continue to report difficulties in passing on their cost increases to sales prices, mainly because demand remains weak. In any case, there is still significant heterogeneity among businesses in terms of performance, associated with both their geographic location and the branch of economic activity to which they belong.

Somewhat more than a third of the firms report having planned investments for 2024, with a slightly lower prevalence than anticipated for the previous year. Investments would be mainly oriented to the refurbishment and maintenance of existing infrastructure, but also to the automation of processes and adaptation to climatic phenomena. It is worth noting the greater perception of investment dynamism in the northern macrozone, particularly in large-scale mining.

The percentage of firms that declare that the investments planned for this year will not be made decreases, although the uncertainty about their actual execution is increasing. This is related to their persistent concern about sales and the overall economic situation.

The firms maintain a perception of tight financial conditions, although they acknowledge the gradual decline in some short-term interest rates. In the opinion of those interviewed, lending activity appears to be slow due to both supply and demand factors. According to some banks, coupled with the strict application of financial evaluations to obtain credit, firms and individuals are reluctant to take on new debt.

In the short term, the firms do not expect significant variations in their sales levels, prices, or input availability, along with cost expectations that continue to moderate and profit margins that continue to narrow.

Going forward, the firms expect their operations to perform better over the next twelve months, with results that would exceed those of an average month. However, their main concern continues to be the behavior of sales, which are flat from the last quarter and higher than they were a year ago.

The number of respondents that expect inflation to be higher than normal for the next twelve months is slightly higher, to the detriment of those that expect inflation to be lower than normal. The prevalence of firms expecting inflation to be close to normal remains mostly unchanged from the last quarter.