That pleasant glow you’re seeing in most of the province is from an upbeat feeling coming from local business owners.
It turns out business owners in rural and small-town Canada are feeling decidedly optimistic about their prospects these days. A quarterly update from StatsCan on the mood of RST or Rural and Small-Town business owners has improved markedly from the first three months of the year.
A large percentage expect sales will increase as the year progresses and only three-in-ten believe their profitability will decline.
Some of the mood shift can be attributed to containment of input costs. The biggest concern on their minds continues to be inflation but worries about rising input costs – which is rated as #2 on their list of concerns – fell more than 10 per cent from Q1 to Q2. The rising cost of debt plus rising insurance premiums rounded out the top four problems these business owners cited.
The improvements have left three-quarters of the owners surveyed saying they are somewhat or very optimistic about the next year….an increase from levels at the start of the year.
