Optimism over the economy grows

MORE than half of business leaders polled by accountancy firm KPMG are optimistic about the economy’s prospects.

Some 56% of 205 executives claim to have seen green shoots in the economy, but a fifth admitted they had “grave concerns” about the continuing fall in demand for products and services.

The proportion describing the economy’s prospects as “bad” or “very bad” halved to 24% since the second quarter while some 19% of respondents described the prospects for UK business over the next 12 months as “good” or “very good”.

Jonathan Hurst, office senior partner for KPMG in Manchester, said: “We must not forget that opinion is still heavily divided as to whether or not the economy is out of intensive care.

“It’s particularly interesting that in spite of certain economic indicators pointing towards modest growth in the third and fourth quarters of this year, the majority of senior executives do not expect the economy to come out of recession for at least another seven to 12 months; perhaps because there is, as yet, no end in sight to falling consumer demand.”