As per the media reports, business confidence has hiked up to its highest levels for more than seven years.

The general business conditions are expected to be improved by a net 19 percent of firms in the coming 12 months, up from 5.5 percent in June. It should be mentioned here that the July reading is the highest level since March 2002.

According to the National Bank monthly survey, "Confidence rose across all sectors in the survey and overall the survey suggested a return to positive economic growth after a recession lasting about 18 months."

Furthermore, companies expressed optimism for their own operations, as nearly 13% companies foresee an improvement in their "own activity" in the coming year, compared with 8 per cent in June.

Other than this, a slowdown in redundancies was also displayed by the survey - while almost 17 percent of firms planned to cut staff in June; this month only 7 percent firms had such plans.