Results of October 2011 Business Confidence Survey Issued
The results from the October 2011 Business Confidence Survey has been issued by Chamber of Commerce and a copy of these results can be found by clicking on the link below:-
Business Confidence Survey - October 2011
Chamber President, David Warr made the following statement “Last week The Jersey Chamber of Commerce carried out a survey of approximately 500 members in an attempt to gauge how businesses feel about the current state of the economy ahead of the elections.
20% of those questioned responded to our survey, so we believe this ‘snap-shot’ represents a good indication of how confident businesses across all sectors are feeling right now. Clearly there is a degree of nervousness, with businesses now less confident about the future of the economy than they were 12 months ago.
The encouraging news is that although few businesses are looking to employ more staff, the number anticipating redundancies is relatively small. There is also a squeeze on margins taking place, with the majority of businesses reporting falling profits, a direct result of being unable to pass on to consumers all of the increased costs of doing business. Is this due to competition, weak consumer demand or something else?
A further positive note is that 69% of respondents are still looking to make capital investments over the coming 12 months.
Finally, there is a degree of endorsement for the Treasury Ministers approach to the budget. The majority of respondents think it’s important to balance the books but also think it’s important that some economic stimulation is applied”.
