UK firms are becoming pessimistic about the impact of Brexit on their sales, according to a report released by the Bank of England today. The survey, ran by the Bank’s regional agents, showed an increase in the number of companies expecting a negative impact from the UK’s EU exit.
The report shows that UK businesses expect approximately a decrease of around 3% in sales, and that 10% said they expected 10% or more to be wiped due to Brexit. Only 10% expected a boost of 1% or more.
Pound at another low
The report coincides with a seven month low, which was triggered by by Deputy Governor of the Bank of England Jon Cunliffe’s warning about rising household debt levels and Irish PM leader Leo Varadkar’s assertion that a lack of progress was ‘disappointing’.
Ahead of the EU summit, Theresa May sought to reassure traders that Brexit talks were on course for a deal. However, the EU 27 have warned Britain that time is starting to run out for a Brexit deal, while some ‘Brexiters’ have called on the Prime Minister to prepare for a ‘no deal’ outcome.
Tell us your views
Whatever your views on Brexit, we want to hear them - positive or negative. We’re running our annual Brexit survey at the moment, allowing you to feed back your opinions on the negotiations and what the UK should be prioritising to the government and broader industry.
Our recent Export Optimism survey showed some optimism for the UK’s trading future. 58.54% of respondents gave a 7 or more out of 10 when asked about optimism for global trade generally, with 49.18% scoring the same for trade with just the EU.
Respondents in that survey generally predicted some impact from Brexit (82.11%) with 12.2% predicting over 40% of trade with the EU being lost.