UK firms less likely to borrow than at any time since financial crash

The quarterly survey by the accountancy firm Deloitte found CFOs now more reluctant to borrow from banks or issue debt than they had been since 2008. With the Bank of England having raised interest rates to 3.5%, about 70% of those questioned now rate credit as costly, and almost half said that new credit was hard to get.

Despite a turbulent year of rising inflation and supply chain disruption on top of rising interest rates, not all the sentiment among the businesses – including more than 50 UK-listed companies – was negative.

Deloitte found that the perception of external risks to businesses, particularly inflation, had eased since peaking earlier this year. Fears of disruption in supply chains, of labour shortages and even higher interest rates have also abated slightly, along with concern over energy prices that had soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Read more at The Guardian