Ireland : The Brexit Sentiment index from First Trust’s parent company AIB, revealed that 62% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) here believe Brexit will negatively hit business.
More than 700 companies on both sides of the border were surveyed over July to September.
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The level is up from 50% in the first quarter of 2018.
The quarterly monitor suggests that 63% of Northern Ireland SMEs have not started planning for Brexit, with just 3% indicating they have a formal plan in place.
Brian Gillan, head of business and corporate banking at First Trust, said: “There is little doubt that the lack of certainty as to what is going to happen is impacting decisions here – with 45% having postponed or cancelled plans and a further 13% having reviewed them.
“An additional 11% have said they have postponed bank borrowing as a result of Brexit.”
Meanwhile two new studies by the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) and Queen’s Management School have suggested that the surge in Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurs could be halted by a bad Brexit deal.
The studies said the number of early stage entrepreneurs in NI has grown by 75% in 15 years.
Professor Mark Hart, the ERC’s deputy director, warned: “The danger is that unless we see a Brexit deal that enables the free flow of trade across an open border, we could turn the clock back on some of the enterprise progress we’ve seen of late.”
