UK business owners are more optimistic about the economic outlook and their own business prospects for 2003 than most of Europe, according to the first ever International Business Owners' Survey (IBOS) published by Grant Thornton. The study, carried out in 19 countries with over 6000 business owners around the world, reveals that levels of pessimism among business owners throughout Europe are at their worst for ten years but the UK is bucking the trend. The global picture for the economy reveals extreme pessimism in the Far East, whereas business owners in the US, Australia, Canada and South Africa are surprisingly optimistic.
