(Yicai Global) March 10 -- A measure of the operational health of China’s small and medium-sized businesses rose last month to the highest since August 2021. 

The China small and medium enterprises development index edged up 0.7 point to 89.6 in February from a month earlier, still below the expansionary mark of 100, according to the results of a survey released by the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises today.

The index is calculated based on a survey of 3,000 SMEs.

China's economy has continued to recover since the country eased Covid-19 controls at the end of last year and consumption began to gather pace during the Chinese New Year holiday in January. 

The gauges of the eight industries included in the survey climbed for a second straight month, with the social services, computer software, accommodation, and catering sectors at the top. But all eight scored in negative territory, indicating the recovery is not yet on a sold footing.

The measures for domestic orders, sales, and sales prices rose among all of the surveyed industries.

Eight sub-indexes jumped, including business efficiency, market, and operations. The capital and labor force sub-indexes reached expansion level, while the business efficiency gauge remained the lowest.

As the domestic pandemic situation improves, fiscal and monetary policies continue to exert force, and market confidence has been significantly boosted. The market sub-index climbed 1.1 points to 81.8 last month from January. 

Costs continued to rise for companies in the eight sectors, as there was an increase in four production cost sub-indexes and six labor cost sub-indexes.

Along with the rebound in the confidence of SMEs, the measure of economic perception rose 0.8 point to 99.5.

Regional gauges, indicating the regional development of SMEs, also rose last month. The eastern and central regions gained the most, reflecting their fast economic turnaround.

Editors: Shi Yi, Martin Kadiev