Increase in UK business optimism
Grant Thornton survey points to marked rise, but UK still lags behind EU
Business optimism in the UK has risen markedly but still lags behind that of
the EU and the global average, according to new research from business and
financial advisers Grant Thornton.
The Grant Thornton International Business Report 2007, carried out among over
7,200 respondents in 32 countries representing 81% of global GDP, showed that
confidence of medium/large privately held businesses in the UK’s economic
outlook has jumped from an optimism/pessimism balance of +8% last year to +43%
for 2007, with the EU averaging a balance of +46% for the coming year.
Although the UK continues to rank 23rd most pessimistic out of the 30
countries surveyed, US optimism appeared to have ‘seemingly fallen off a cliff’,
plunging to +14% where once it stood at +78% (2004).
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