Britain's top business journalists feel the economic tide is turning
For the first time since the financial crisis, our Business and Financial Journalist survey shows that over half of Britain’s top journalists say they expect the economy to improve over the next twelve months.
For the first time since the financial crisis, our Business and Financial Journalist survey shows that over half of Britain’s top journalists say they expect the economy to improve over the next twelve months. In fact expectations have increased so dramatically that now almost two-thirds of journalists (64%1 ) are expecting the economy to get better over the coming year. Strong performance in the FTSE earlier in the year, combined with positive GDP figures is creating increasingly buoyant expectations for growth prospects amongst the nation’s top financial commentators.
This new-found positivity is also having an impact on perceptions of Britain’s attractiveness to investors. Since the end of 2012 there has been an increase in the number of journalists feeling the UK is an attractive place to invest, which has risen from 58% in November ‘12 to 71% this summer.
However, the good news is tempered by an understanding that the country still has a long road before it reaches a full economic recovery. Still 88% of journalists feel that lack of economic growth is the most pressing issue facing the country, and 60% feel that the UK faces a prolonged period of stagnation.
The nation’s journalists understand the stringent challenges government, businesses and consumers face, but for the first time in years the outlook is improving.
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Note 1: 85 Business and Financial Journalists were interviewed face-to-face between 5th June – 8th July. Part of Ipsos’s syndicated suite of Key Influencer Tracking surveys.
