Small and medium-sized companies are increasingly pessimistic about the future of the domestic economy but still have no plans to lay off staff.
According to the results of the latest business snapshot by Bank of Scotland, about 60 per cent of SME owners are fearful about the future of the domestic economy. The figure has risen quickly from 50 per cent in November last year.
About 41 per cent of the three million SMEs in the UK said they are less optimistic about the outlook for 2003 than they were just three months ago - a jump from 29 per cent in the previous report. But despite their sagging confidence in the state of the economy, the vast majority of SMEs believe their own business is going in the right direction.
Four out of five small firms believe their earnings over the next 12 months will either shrug off the woes of plunging stock markets and stumbling growth or actually grow.
