A NEW SURVEY of senior executives in Irish companies found that business activity levels weakened in the autumn and are expected to decline further by the end of the year.

The IIB/Institute of Chartered Accountants Autumn business sentiment survey found that one in nine firms are still hiring, but that nearly two out of five companies surveyed are reporting falling employment.

It also found that only one in 10 companies think Budget 2009 should focus exclusively on the public finances.

The majority feel the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, must also support the economy.

"The upcoming budget is seen as important but as unlikely to transform the Irish economic outlook," said Austin Hughes, chief economist at IIB Bank, which carried out the research.

"Most firms think it was a good idea to bring forward the budget but only one in 10 think Mr Lenihan should focus exclusively on the deterioration in the public finances.

"Business is looking for a measured budget. Roughly one in three companies think the priority should be to support the broad economic outlook while the majority (55 per cent) feel the upcoming budget must strike a balance between fiscal prudence and supporting activity."

Mr Hughes also noted that the credit crunch appears to be having a fairly broadly based impact on economic activity.

"Only one in nine firms reported no impact while one in three indicated the credit crunch was having a substantial effect on their business."

About one in nine companies said dearer credit was hitting them, while one in four cited difficulty in accessing credit as the major problem.

"Roughly two in three firms say that the credit crunch is translating into weaker demand for the goods and services they produce," Mr Hughes said.