Survey find business confidence still high

Irish business confidence remains high, with a majority of corporate leaders expecting increased economic growth and exports, according to the latest Bank of Ireland business confidence survey. Eight in 10 of the 171 chief executives or heads of finance questioned said they expected company turnover to increase during 1998.

"The upbeat mood of businesses is also shared by exporters," according to the report. "Specifically 64 per cent of those serving external markets anticipate an increase in their export volumes during the year ahead. Slightly less than one quarter - 23 per cent - of the export sector look to a stable situation in the coming 12 months."

But this latest poll, carried out in February by Irish Marketing Surveys, and published by Bank of Ireland in association with The Irish Times, records a softening of the figures since the previous survey, conducted in November. A marginally higher proportion of exporters - 8 per cent - now fear a decrease in their volumes.

"The country's leading businessmen demonstrated a confident and positive mood about employment prospects," the report continues. "Precisely one half of the survey sample anticipate stability in the numbers employed within their own enterprises. Almost four in 10 - 37 per cent - expect to take on additional employees during 1998."

The figure is considerably lower than the 46 per cent expecting to hire more staff recorded last November, but the number of employers foreseeing a decline in their own payroll remains at its low level of 12 per cent.

On the question relating to whether or not companies' prices would rise during the year, 46 per cent said they expected price stability for the 12 months ahead, with another 40 per cent predicting their prices would rise.

"The underlying confidence amongst business leaders in the performance of the Irish economy over the coming 12 months is very high indeed," the report says. "Two thirds - 66 per cent - of corporate leaders expect national economic growth to increase even further from the already high base. Those anticipating a relatively stagnant national economic situation continue to be in decline, currently numbering 27 per cent."

Most business leaders - 52 per cent - believe that European economic and monetary union (EMU) will have a beneficial effect on the Irish economic environment, with a quarter of respondents saying they believed it would be neutral in impact. But one fifth predicted that EMU would damage the economy.

When it comes to their own businesses, however, only 13 per cent of corporate leaders said EMU would be harmful, against 33 predicting it would be helpful, and 52 per cent believing it would have no net effect on their operations.