Irish firms less pessimistic about future, says KBC report

Many Irish employers feel the worst of the recession is now over, according to the latest assessment of business sentiment by KBC Bank and the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The bank says jobs are still being lost on a large scale and more than half of companies involved in the survey said they had laid off workers in the past three months.

However, businesses in general are less pessimistic about the future and are expecting to cut fewer jobs in the coming months.

KBC says this may reflect the emergence of some signs of improvement in the US and British economies, as well as an increase in competitiveness as a result of lay-offs and pay cuts in Ireland.