Confidence among British businesses fell sharply following the vote to leave the EU, a survey showed yesterday.
The number of businesses pessimistic about the economy over the next 12 months jumped to 49 percent in the week following the referendum, from 25 percent before the vote outcome, according to a survey conducted by YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
Britain’s vote to withdraw from the 28-nation bloc has prompted political chaos, a sharp drop in the sterling and clouded the economic outlook.
Against this backdrop, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has said the central bank would likely need to provide more stimulus to the economy over the summer.
“These figures ... suggest a significant shock reaction [to Brexit],” center director Scott Corfe said.
“Not only are businesses feeling much more pessimistic in general about the state of the economy, but their own expectations for domestic sales, exports and investments over the next 12 months have gone off a cliff,” Corfe said.
The survey of 1,000 British-based companies also showed that 26 percent of respondents were pessimistic about their own business outlook, up from 16 percent before the referendum.
Businesses are increasingly downbeat about their operations in the year ahead, with expectations for domestic sales, exports and capital investment all dropping sharply, it showed.
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