Global economic confidence has fallen during the third quarter this year, according to a joint Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) report.
According to the report, Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS), 67% of surveyed finance professionals think the global economy is stagnating or reversing. The survey suggests this pessimism is due to negatively changing business fundamentals in real economy and the expected recovery in early 2013 is down to misplaced optimism.
"This quarter has seen business confidence fall for all the right reasons. […] The fundamentals of the business environment are deteriorating, and businesses are once again having the kinds of liquidity problems we thought we had put behind us," ACCA senior economic analyst and survey editor Manos Schizas said.
While the Middle East appears to be the most confident of the GECS regions, the report shows the negative affect China’s economic downturn is having on business confidence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Underlining the interconnectedness of the global economy, IMA’s vice president of research Raef Lawson said the slowdown in Asia; the Eurozone debt crisis; the sluggish US recovery; all are "feeding into each other and no region is unaffected".
In UK, the overall economic conditions are still considered poor and impacted by issues such as government spending cuts. But there is hope among UK’s respondents. According to Schizas, "they now believe the UK’s trajectory is more sustainable" and 16% of UK respondents reported confidence gains.
For the GECS Q3 2012, ACCA and IMA surveyed 2,550 finance professionals.
Related link
ACCA/IMA Global Economic Conditions Survey Q3 2012
