The financial chiefs of leading Irish companies are showing increased confidence in an expedient return to growth, new figures have revealed.
The number of chief financial officers (CFO) predicting that their own firms will return to growth in the second half of this year has more than doubled, according to the recently published Deloitte CFO survey.
The survey, which looked at numbers and opinions for the second half of this year, shows that 65 per cent of the CFOs believe they will see a return to growth before the year's end, rising from 32 per cent in the first quarter.
Deloitte partner, Shane Mohan, said the current outlook was positive in some key areas, but there was still caution being exercised in others.
"While the overall outlook of CFOs on their individual companies' fortunes is generally positive, thanks largely to exports, there is a definite perception amongst them that the general economy may lag significantly in returning to growth," he said.
Most respondents – 66 per cent – are not expecting a major macro economic recovery in Ireland until next year. More than 77 per cent of them said that new credit is harder to get from banks compared to six months ago, up from 65 per cent in the first three months of 2010.
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