Business confidence in the United Kingdom has reached its lowest in the past four years in the wake of Britons’ decision to leave the EU, a new survey shows.
According to Lloyds Bank’s Business in Britain report, expectations for growth of sales, orders and profits dropped to 12 percent, down from 38 percent in January, among British companies.
Economic uncertainty has been mentioned as the main reason for the decrease by most of the 1,500 businesses taking parting in the survey, while 18 percent of them are concerned about a drop in demands, The Guardian reported on Monday.
Results of the survey were released in the wake of the Brexit vote in June, in which some 52 percent (17.4 million) of the British people voted to leave the European Union after 43 years of membership.
“The EU referendum vote has introduced a level of uncertainty for companies as the UK decides on the best model for its future relationship with the EU, and this is likely to continue for the foreseeable future,” said Tim Hinton, a managing director at Lloyds.
However, Hinton sounded optimistic about the situation compared the financial crisis that gripped the UK a few years earlier.
“Whilst sentiment has fallen to a four-year low, it remains well above the lows reached during the global financial crisis of 2008-9.”