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BUSINESS ACTIVITY HAS increased in Ireland in the third quarter of this year – but the pace of the improvement has slowed alongside hesitant recovery in the jobs market, according to the the Autumn 2012 KBC Bank Ireland/Chartered Accountants Ireland Business Sentiment Survey.
Austin Slattery, President of Chartered Accountants Ireland, said that a “marginally” greater number of companies were reporting higher rather than lower output levels of late – and that while further growth is expected in the final quarter of 2012, firms are notably more cautious than they were three months ago. As such, they are opting to monitor the sector rather than stepping up output and employment.
“Unfortunately, as both Irish companies and consumers appear cautious and unwilling to commit to increased spending at present, this suggests any recovery will remain lacklustre,” he said.
The survey also found that:
Chief Economist at KBC Bank Ireland, Austin Hughes, noted that the most notable difference between this survey and that of three months ago relates to the responses given by companies focused on the domestic market, particularly those trying to sell goods and services to Irish consumers:
The Summer survey suggested some tentative signs that this sector might be bottoming out after nearly five years of continuous decline. Unfortunately, the Autumn survey found renewed weakness in this area. This may reflect increased nervousness about the damage another tough Budget could do to spending power and consumer morale.
Slattery stated it was “not entirely surprising” that the Autumn survey should point towards a hesitant recovery, but noted the significance of the concern companies were expressing regarding the impact on the increased uncertainty on their businesses. He said that worries about the health of the wider global economy, coupled with worries over new measures to be introduced in Budget 2013, were hitting companies expansion plans.
“This uncertainty has hit domestic focused firms hardest, presumably because the conditions they face are already so fragile that any further deterioration could have a particularly harmful impact,” he said.
Hughes agreed that the circumstances made it “very difficult” for Irish businesses to plan for the year ahead. He noted:
By comparison, the health of the UK economy or the level of ECB interest rates are regarded as relatively unimportant, at 6 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.
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Until the government put more money into peoples pockets, they won’t have it to spend…simple as. Cutting and taxing people back to the 50′s never has or will work. We need confidence in the future..something that doesn’t exist out there. Unfortunately for the government, they stopped listening to the people very shortly after they got into power just as FF did and look at the price they paid and will be paying for years to come.
Truth is the indigenous private sector is in a downward spiral. The cost case is being relentlessly driven upwards, gas, home heating oil, diesel / petrol, electricity, water, waste, health insurance, alcohol and so on and conversely net incomes continue to plummet. Croke Park as presently stands is an illusion that cannot be maintained. Looks like the budget will only exacerbate all of the above. More and more private sector jobs will be lost. The only way to kick start the economy is to declare war on costs. This government has made no effort to do so. It is a government devoid of competence when it comes to job creation and managing its way through recession.
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