Business confidence in the wider economy plunged in May as companies were shaken by developments in the crisis-hit eurozone, a survey showed on Wednesday.
The Lloyds Bank Wholesale Banking and Markets Business Barometer fell to minus 21% from 26% last month, meaning most respondents are negative on the view of the economy.
The eurozone crisis continued to escalate throughout May as fears grew over the health of the Spanish economy and the possibility of Greece exiting the euro.
Trevor Williams, chief economist at Lloyds Bank Wholesale Banking & Markets, said: "The renewed concern around the eurozone is clearly having an impact on businesses' sentiment towards prospects for the UK economy and, to a lesser extent, to their own prospects."
Companies also became less confident about their own prospects, although the decline was not as severe as the sentiment towards the broader economic outlook.
Businesses' confidence in relation to their own prospects currently stands at 35%, down eight points on April's 43%, Lloyds said, which still remains higher than during the worst of the financial crisis in 2008/09.
The survey data suggest an underlying 0.2% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) between April and June, Lloyds said, but only once the impact of the Diamond Jubilee is taken into account, which is likely to have reduced growth by 0.5 percentage points.
The most notable declines in confidence in May came in the North and Midlands and in the retail and distribution sector.
The survey comes after accountants Ernst & Young said the recovery was being undermined by "zombie" companies. They claimed "financially undead" companies were holding back the economy and should be allowed to fail.
The deepening troubles in the eurozone have also hit confidence on stock markets.
Debt-ridden Greece, which is in its fifth year of recession, faces a crucial election later this month, which has been branded a referendum on whether it will stay in the eurozone and stomach more painful austerity measures.
Meanwhile, there are fears over the health of Spain's banking sector, after its fourth biggest lender, Bankia, said it needed a 19 billion euro (£15.2 billion) bail-out. In the UK, banking stocks have been among the worst hit.
Shopping soccer sides for swearing - yorkshirepost
One of the world’s oldest football leagues is to introduce secret shoppers to spy on officials and players who swear during games, its chairman said.
The Northern League, formed in 1889, could then name and shame the worst offending clubs and provide financial bonuses for those who keep it clean.
The league, which has 46 clubs from Alnwick, Northumberland, to Northallerton, has led a number of high-profile campaigns against swearing, which is contrary to the laws of the game, and which puts off families from watching.
Next season the league will send secret shoppers to monitor games – despite the opposition of certain members opposed to snooping.
League chairman Mike Amos said: “If you go to a Premier League game with 50,000 people there and the players and management are effing and blinding, you can’t hear it, and so in a sense, it doesn’t matter. But if you are at a game with 100 people in the ground, you can hear.
“People say to me ‘it’s a passionate game’ and it is, but it is also a disciplined game.”
Mr Amos said the laws of football allow a referee to send off a player or manager who uses offensive language, but few do.
Match officials may be wary of being marked down by clubs if they tackle the issue – meaning referees would struggle to get promotion through the leagues.
Mr Amos, who has been league chairman for 16 years, said the FA could stamp out the issue if they took a stand, but it seemed reluctant to do so.
A previous attempt to tackle swearing by introducing a zero tolerance policy failed to win the governing body’s backing, after it was initially praised by the FA.
“We are not going to persuade the referees to act without the FA’s backing, so we have to persuade the clubs and their personnel not to do it,” he said.
League chiefs know the worst offending clubs and the chairman said those with managers who swear from the technical area also had a problem with players using bad language. “If the managers are disciplined, then the players tend to be,” he said.
Email to a friend
Print this pageTexas Wholesale Power Prices Could Increase - KCEN TV NBC 6
No comments:
Post a Comment