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Record fall in business confidence
CONTRACTION looms in the UK as business confidence has plummeted, according to the ICAEW/Grant Thornton business confidence monitor published today.
The index has fallen from 8.1 in the third quarter to minus 9.7 in the fourth.
This is the largest decline the monitor has ever recorded, taking confidence to levels last seen in the depths of the previous recession, and implies a contraction of 0.2 per cent in GDP in the fourth quarter, the organisations believe.