Confidence amongst British businesses has reached its highest
for 18 months but concerns still remain, KPMG’s latest quarterly
business confidence survey has found.
More than half of the senior executives surveyed said they have
seen “signs of recovery”, and the number of them seeing prospects
for the economy as “bad” has dropped to 24 percent from 54 percent
in the previous quarter.
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However, one in five businesses continues to express “grave
concerns” about a fall in demand in their products or
services.
KPMG head of markets in the UK Malcolm Edge said: “While at
first glance these statistics do look encouraging, we must not
forget that opinion is still heavily divided as to whether or not
the economy is out of intensive care.”
“The majority of senior executives do not expect the economy to
come out of recession for at least another seven to 12 months.”
Edge added that executives are also worried that when trade
starts to pick up again, businesses will not have the cash
available to finance new growth plans.
“Although the majority of banks are claiming to be open for
business, the fact remains that at present lending will only happen
in specific circumstances and under very strict guidelines,” he
said.
Antonio Fabrizio
