IBEC: Export growth to continue despite challenging market conditions

Employers' group IBEC has said that the outlook for Irish exports remains positive going into 2012, despite the eurozone crisis impacting severely on the confidence levels of Irish companies.

Releasing its Business Sentiment Survey for the final quarter of 2011, IBEC warned that the climate heading into 2012 is very challenging and the resilience of exports will struggle to compensate for the weakness in domestic demand.

However the group's chief economist Fergal O'Brien said the prognosis is not all negative.

"Exports will continue to grow even though the market conditions are going to be very difficult," Mr O'Brien said.

"It's going to be quite a challenging trading environment. The export growth will be at a slower pace than we had in 2011 but Irish companies, crucially, are winning new customers and growing market share.

"The challenge will be to try and get balanced economic recover next year."