Sixty-four per cent of retailers believe business prospects for the Christmas season will be either bad or very bad, according to a survey carried out by the Chamber for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises - GRTU.

With barely a month left for Christmas Day, just 25 per cent were optimistic that their prospects would be good and eight per cent said they were uncertain, according to the survey findings seen by The Times.

Among the main reasons given were a lack of client confidence, a drop in purchasing power and the revised utility tariffs. Asked about the state of their business today, 57 per cent said it was bad or very bad, 35 per cent reported it as being good and eight per cent said it was average.

Furthermore, 36 per cent of respondents said they were considering laying off employees, 12 per cent said they would close some of their shops or part of their shop and 11 per cent that they would close down.

Asked about prospects for the next six months, 49 per cent of respondents said they were negative and 35 per cent spoke of uncertainty. Just eight per cent said prospects were positive and another eight per cent said they were stable.

The survey was conducted among 100 GRTU members involved in selling a whole range of products and services.