However, not much excitement about the economy
IFM Correspondent
September 2, 2016: Things are not as bad as it was thought it would be post Brexit. A monthly business survey has found that more than half of the confidence lost in the aftermath of the referendum has been recovered. However, businesspersons remained largely pessimistic about the economic outlook, a survey by YouGov/Cebr UK Economic Index showed.
The report said 48% of the 500 decision-makers surveyed have an optimistic outlook now, which is up from 46% in July but still below the 53% figure recorded before the vote. This was explained by improved expectations for capital investment, revenue from domestic sales and revenue from exports over the next year — partly due to the weaker pound, the report said
The overall confidence index reached 109.7 in August from 105.0 in July. But companies remained downbeat about the economy in the next 12 months.
Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will not start the formal divorce procedure from the EU by triggering Article 50 of the EU Lisbon Treaty until next year, to allow time to come up with a negotiating stance.
“Once the UK shows its hand on Brexit and invokes Article 50, things could change for the worse quickly,” said Stephen Harmston of YouGov. “But as businesses and consumers don’t know when this will happen, they have seemingly decided to just get on with it.”