Six in 10 rural bankers surveyed say they expect a recession - Entrepreneur Generations

Creighton University chart; click here to download it and Table 2.

More than six in 10 rural bankers surveyed for the latest Rural Mainstreet Index say they expect a recession because of the coronavirus pandemic, marking the largest one-month decline in the confidence index since the survey began in January 2006, and its lowest point since October 2016. About 32 percent of bankers surveyed said they expect little economic impact from the virus.

The index, compiled by Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, is a survey of rural bankers in 10 states where agriculture and energy are critical to the economy: Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

The overall index for March fell from 51.6 for February to 35.5 in March (Anything below 50 is growth-negative). This marks the first month of below-neutral growth after six months straight above 50, Goss reports. The only three measures on the index above 50 were loan volume, checking deposits, and home sales (see Table 1).

Some rural bankers said they had not experienced any impact from the pandemic, but 47.6% said they had experienced a decline in client or customer visits, and 14.3% of banks reported an increase in staff absences because of the virus.

Creighton University chart; click here to download it and Table 1.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2QFal5J Six in 10 rural bankers surveyed say they expect a recession - Entrepreneur Generations

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