Uncertainty forces confidence levels to drop

Confidence levels among Cork companies dipped in the first quarter of the year; with overall economic uncertainty and disappointment in the banks playing major roles.

That said, however, latest findings from Cork Chamber of Commerce show that overall business confidence levels in the county remain high — with 78% of respondents to the chamber’s first-quarter economic trends survey saying they are confident in their financial future.

That percentage is down from a confidence reading of 84%, taken at the end of the final quarter of 2011; but that particular reading represented a record high in the near three-year history of the survey.