Official figures shared by a survey have revealed that the confidence level among small to medium businesses across Canada managed to fall in December, hinting that the economic recovery has continued to remain slow and sluggish in some segments of the market.

A fall was recorded by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Barometer Index, which slipped to 63.7 points in December, down from November's reading of 68. The decline was mainly broad-based, which was witnessed in 10 out of the 13 prime industry categories, as well as in 8 out of 10 provinces.

"Small business owners are reminding us that we aren't out of the woods yet", said CFIB vice-president of research and chief economist Ted Mallett, while stressing that the survey clearly suggests that aftermath of the recession is still widely felt among owners of small and medium sized businesses.

An improvement, however, was recorded by the personal services sector and the retail sector during the Holiday season, and these reported above-average confidence for December.