It said respondents again "massively concluded that economic conditions have deteriorated over the past six months both for the country overall and for the sector in which they operate."

"As in the previous survey, respondents expressed a glimmering of optimism concerning the future.

"Roughly one-third expressed a belief that things would get no worse or even improve over the coming six months", the unit reported in a press release.

It said a slightly more positive stance was taken when asked about prospects in their own industries compared with the overall outlook for the country.

It also found that most business people and professionals favour Guyana participating in trade negotiations that will lead to tariff reductions.

A sizable proportion, however, are opposed to the strategy that would give other producers of other countries increased access to Guyana's markets while, at the same time, improve opportunities for local producers to export, it said in the release yesterday.

"Resistance was most evident on the part of those involved in manufacturing or processing operations.

"Among the more frequently given reasons for disagreement were the small size of the local economy, high costs of production and inefficiency", it said.

Professionals and service providers were much more positive towards trade liberalisation, the survey found.

"Even of those favouring the strategy however, a number expressed uncertainty over the economy's ability to adjust smoothly to the challenges - recommending it as something of a `tough love' approach that, while painful, would propel the country's industry into a more competitive stance", the release said.

It explained that the question was included in the Policy Unit's regular monthly survey of business confidence.

The unit's Chief Economist, Mr. Don McIver commented that interest in the survey and its results was increasing and that the unit still wants to expand its coverage to cover as broad a sampling of the business community as possible.