Central bank survey: Chinese entrepreneurs' confidence gains in Q1

Confidence among Chinese entrepreneurs edged up slightly in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter, a central bank survey revealed on Friday. The entrepreneur confidence index, a gauge of views and opinions from Chinese entrepreneurs on the domestic economy, rose 1.1 percentage points to 67 percent, said the People's Bank of China in a statement. On a year-on-year basis, however, the index was 1 percentage point lower from that for the first quarter of 2013. The quarterly index surveys 5,000 entrepreneurs. About 62.7 percent of respondents thought the macro-economy was "normal", 35.2 percent said it was "relatively cold" and 2.1 percent believed it to be "relatively hot." As for export orders, the index fell 3.3 percentage points to 45.4 percent in the first quarter this year. Only 13.8 percent of the companies said they received more orders, while 22.9 percent claimed fewer. There was a similar performance for domestic orders. About 14.2 percent of the companies said they received more orders, while 25.3 percent said they got fewer orders In another survey released by the central bank in the day, the satisfaction index among Chinese urbanites over the price of goods and services rose 3.1 percentage points to 23.6 percent in the first quarter of this year. The survey showed that 55.8 percent of the respondents thought prices in the first quarter were "high and unendurable," down 5.8 percentage points from the previous quarter. China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, increased 2 percent year on year in February, marking easing inflationary pressure since the end of last year, according to National Bureau of Statistics figures. The central bank carried out the quarterly survey among 20,000 urban bank users in 50 major cities. The survey also showed that 64.3 percent felt house prices in the first quarter were "too high", 2.2 percentage points lower than the previous quarter. Some 48 percent of respondents anticipate home prices will remain stable next quarter, and 28.3 percent believe costs will continue to rise. 10.2 percent expect a decline in home prices.