LONDON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- British business leaders have shown a record low of confidence about their firms and the overall economy amid increasing pressure on the government to publish an exit strategy from the coronavirus lockdown measures, a survey revealed Monday.
A poll of over a thousand directors conducted last week about their organisation's prospects over the coming 12 months showed a net balance of minus 22 percent, the first negative balance reading shown since the indicator started running since the 2016 European Union referendum, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD), an organisation representing some 30,000 business leaders across Britain.
Meanwhile, business leaders' net confidence in the economy overall shrunk to minus 69 percent, the lowest level yet recorded by the tracking survey, with investment intentions for the year ahead also hitting the lowest figure collected by the IoD.
Among the leaders, 37 percent said they are "quite pessimistic" about their organisations over the next 12 months and 9 percent voiced "very pessimistic", whereas 21 percent said "quite optimistic" and only 3 percent showed "very optimistic".
In terms of the wider British economy over one year ahead, 80 percent of leaders said they are "pessimistic", while just 11 percent said "optimistic".
"Revenue and employment for the same time period are all also anticipated to fall dramatically," said the IoD.
The business body suggested "the figures should encourage the government to publish -- even in outline -- the stages that the UK would go through to re-open the economy."
"The government faces a near-impossible task in protecting the nation's health while also thinking about how to let businesses restart," said Jon Geldart, director general of the IoD, adding that directors "want to know how they can get going again safely in a way that supports efforts to make sure the virus is kept under control."
Geldart said business leaders knew the restart "will not happen all in one go, but that's why it's even more important to tell them what they need to prepare for."
In a televised speech on Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who returned to Downing Street after recovering from COVID-19, told Britons that he would not "throw away the sacrifice of the British people" by loosening lockdown restrictions too soon.
"I know it is tough and I want to get this economy moving as fast as I can. But I refuse to throw away all the effort and the sacrifice of the British people and to risk a second major outbreak and huge loss of life and the overwhelming of the NHS," said Johnson, urging the British people to contain their impatience. Enditem
