3Stein schreef:
But, the data also showed a record divergence between businesses' perceptions of their own performance compared with future perceptions.
A majority of firms still expect to increase employment and investment in 2008, despite being gloomier than at any time in the last 12 years about their prospects.
"There are real difficulties in interpreting business confidence at present because there's a record gap between actual performance and future perceptions," Leach said. "How much of the pessimism is real and how much is imagined?"