Bosses plan to freeze pay next year

NINE out of 10 of the country’s top chief executives surveyed will be implementing a pay freeze next year, with a third expecting the unemployment rate to go above 15%.

Of those that said they expect to be implementing pay cuts in 2010, almost three-quarters said this pay cut would be greater than 5%.

The 1,000 chief executives surveyed by CB Richard Ellis also said that they expect bank funding for businesses and households to improve next year.

Managing director of CB Richard Ellis Ireland, Guy Hollis, said: “This survey gives us a fascinating insight into the views of the CEOs of some of Ireland’s leading companies.

“While an air of pessimism generally pervades it is becoming increasingly clear that business leaders believe that things will start to slowly improve in 2010 and this is certainly encouraging.”

A third said that they are less optimistic about Irish economic prospects in the short to medium term than they were 12 months ago and more than a fifth expect the Irish economy to show positive growth in 2010.

More than half of respondents believe that European Central Bank (ECB) base rates will remain unchanged next year which would begood news for home-owners. Close to half said that bank deposits are their preferred investment choice in the current climate.