A report from employers' group IBEC says business confidence improved in the second quarter of this year for the third quarter in a row. But the figure measuring the mood among businesses is still in negative territory.
IBEC said confidence was stronger in exporting businesses than in the domestic economy.
The business confidence indicator was -30% in the Q2, meaning the percentage of firms with a negative view of the current business environment outnumbered those with a positive view by 30 points.
The survey found that companies were considerably less negative about their own businesses than the overall environment. The figure for confidence in firms' own business was -10%, while a forward-looking figure for three months' time was -4%.
But expectations about sales in the domestic market dipped into negative territory in Q2, having turned positive in the first three months of this year. IBEC says this reflects concerns about the fragility of the Irish economy.
Companies' view of export sales was positive, at 14%, for the fifth quarter in a row. The figure for employment was -17%, worse than the -13% in Q1, but a big improvement from the figures from last year. This means more firms are planning to reduce their workforce than increase it in the coming three months.
