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Only 15 per cent of firms are in growth mode - survey
An all-island survey found that 46 per cent half of Irish businesses are currently experiencing contraction, fighting for survival, or are in the process of winding up.
JUST 15 PER CENT of Irish businesses are currently in growth mode – with almost half currently experiencing contraction, fighting for survival, or in the process of winding up.
An all-island survey by InterTrade Ireland has found that a only a small minority of businesses were currently experiencing growth in the first quarter of this year.
Sales performance figures were also negative during this period: just 22 per cent of businesses reported an increase in sales, while 37 per cent experienced a decline. However, despite negative net growth, the figures show an improvement compared with the previous three quarters.
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More businesses in Northern Ireland (28 per cent) than those in the Republic (20 per cent) reported an increase, although the gap is narrowing.
A third (34 per cent) of firms say they have decreased their prices over the past 3-6 months, while a quarter of those trading cross-border say they have been encouraged to explore other markets.
According to the survey, almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of businesses do not export their goods and services.
Rising costs are a major worry – with almost 4 in 10 businesses (38 per cent) citing this issue as a “very large” consideration for their firm, and four-fifths (41 per cent) reporting that a lack of available finance for investments is constraining their plans for growth.
Manufacturing and Business service firms out-performed every other sector in sales increases during the first quarter of 2012.
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Richard Boyd Barrett supports central planning, a Soviet style system of economic organization that impoverished countless millions, that is incompatible with democracy and economic prosperity. Why does Mr Barrett think that out of the millions of economists in the world, not even a handful agree with the ‘learned analysis’, of this secondary school left wing English teacher? It irrelevant to Mr Barrett that capitalism and private enterprise has improved the standard of living of the ordinary man more than anything else; its relevant to Mr Barrett that the most capitalistic country in Latin America is the most rich, has the lowest corruption level, has the highest GDP, highest real income per capita, lowest amount living below the poverty line, lowest infant mortality rate, etc its irrelevant to Mr Barrett that Hong kong and Singapore are among the richest countries in the world with higher incomes that Sweden, Germany, France, the Uk etc etc; its irrelevant to Mr Barrett that millions have been taken out of ineffably atrocious poverty in China with the implementation of free-market capitalistic reform, its irrelevant to Mr Barrett that the poor is capitalistic countries are wealthier than the average people in state socialist countries or that obesity is more of a problem among the poor in capitalistic countries than among the rich. Barrett doesn’t care that prices don’t allocate resources in a socialist economy, that they don’t reflect supply and demand, that they don’t reflect scarcity; Barrett doesn’t care that socialism kills incentives to innovate, and for economic growth, kills the right to set up a business, and creates endless waste and dead weight loss, monumental shortfalls in total surplus; in fact he doesn’t care about facts, or the truth, he knows what he likes and doesn’t want to hear anything else; don’t little little things like the evidence or truth get in the way of his endless inarticulate regurgitation of yesterdays fallacies of central planning, soviet nostrums, erroneous assumptions and emotion-laden invective. A backbench ranter with laughable views.
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