A newly released report from Bank of America states that many small business owners say that inflation is their top concern. The Bank of America 2022 Small Business Owner Report also reveals that most small business owners are projecting growth, despite inflation forcing up prices.
During an interview with Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria”, president of Small Business and the head of Specialty Banking and Lending at Bank of America, Sharon Miller, noted that right now businesses are “fueled by consumer spending” despite the concern of inflation, consumer demand is up and because of this, businesses are “continuing to invest in themselves and grow.”
Miller also noted that the data from Bank of America, found that consumer spending was up by 25 percent, in comparison to last year.
This is the 10th annual survey conducted by Bank of America, who surveyed over 1000 businesses in March and April – found that some businesses weren’t doing so well with the increase in prices and were losing customers, but 64 percent of those surveyed, predicted that their revenue will increase over the next year.
Nearly 88 percent of business owners said that current inflation is impacting their business negatively, while 31 percent remain hopeful that the economy will improve – down by 50 percent from last year.
Fox Business reported:
Inflation accelerated to a new four-decade high in March and price hikes were widespread with energy prices rising a staggering 11% in March from the previous month and are up 32% from last year.
Last month, the Labor Department said that the consumer price index (CPI) – which measures a bevy of goods including gasoline, health care, groceries and rents – rose 8.5% in March from a year ago, the fastest pace since December 1981, when inflation hit 8.9%. Prices jumped 1.2% in the one-month period from February, the largest month-to-month jump since 2005.
The inflation data for April will be released next week.
The Bank of America report also noted that 76 percent of business owners say supply chain issues are affecting their business too and Miller noted that while “there is a supply chain crisis out there,” there are signs “that that is starting to break free a bit.”
She noted that “the outlook is actually positive” when she asks business owners how they are feeling about their revenue prospects over the next 12 months.
“So, we are seeing signs of optimism,” Miller said, “I wouldn’t say that everything is resolved, but we are coming out of the pandemic,” Stressing that “things are beginning to flow.”
This may well be far too optimistic, however, as all signs point to what may become a recession worse than has ever been seen.
Never has the world had to deal with something on this scale and of this magnitude. Never has the world been more connected and the Russia-Ukraine war is polarizing this fact. There is a reason they call it a supply chain – once a link is broken, it is hard to reconnect it again.
If Trump or some one like him is elected in the ’24 election, the economy will grow because we will be energy independent once more. Democrats are bad for the country. That was not always so.
As long as joe Biden is in charge, we as a nation will fail miserably