SMALL and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Shenzhen were under much more pressure to survive after the enterprise confidence index dropped for the first time in 2011, a study has found.

According to the survey conducted by the city’s banking regulatory bureau, the operating costs of SMEs kept rising. Tightening by the Central Government also made it hard for these enterprises to raise capital, leading to the decrease of a number of indices, including the confidence index, which fell 2.16 percent from a month earlier.

The survey covered 500 enterprises in 20 industries. Some 60 percent of the enterprises interviewed expressed their willingness to increase investment in their respective industries, a fall of 3 percent from a month earlier while 39 percent of the respondents said they would maintain the status quo in investment, an increase of 4 percent.

The city banking regulatory bureau said SMEs in Shenzhen had been stable overall without breaking capital chains and a wave of bankruptcies.

(Luo Miao)