Business buoyant — IOB survey

Confidence in the economy by top business leaders in the country has jumped significantly for the first quarter of 2005. This is reflected in the Institute of Business (IOB) Corporate Confidence Index (CCI) for the first quarter of 2005, which was issued recently. So sure of success, 72 percent of executives said they would be making major capital investments in the next six months, with 75 percent doing the same over the 12-month period. As a direct result of such investments 61 percent of the executives said their companies would begin recruiting in the first six months, while 62 percent is looking at the longer 12-month span.

But asked specifically about the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and whether it would create viable opportunities and benefits for their organisations, 65% of the executives indicated they foresaw benefits from the CSME, while 17% did not see any opportunities for their companies, 18 % said they were not sure. The CCI looked at things like financial performance and financial outlook as well as investment and employment outlook,  local economic outlook and global economic outlook. The Index  found that executives showed  confidence in the financial performances of their organisations improved by 66 points, while their confidence in the local economy increased by 64 points over the six-month stretch and by 53 points over the year.

Confidence in the financial outlook of their organisations increased by 77 points over the six-month horizon and by 85 points over the longer 12-month horizon, while the investment index jumped from 35 points to 65 over the six-month horizon, but decreased from 33 to 66  points over the 12-month horizon. As far as employment was concerned, the employment index improved from 15 to 51 points over the six-month horizon and from 19 to 43 points over the longer 12-month stretch. The survey  was disseminated to business leaders and executives last January. Some 125 responded, many indicating a strengthening in executive confidence in the financial outlook of their companies and the local economy.