LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Finance executives at top
British firms have reported the sharpest rise in optimism since
late 2020 and the recent upheaval in the global banking sector
has not dented the mood, a quarterly survey by Deloitte showed
on Monday.
The difference between chief financial officers who were
more optimistic about their businesses' prospects and those were
less optimistic stood at 25 percentage points, having run below
the long-term average reading of -2 percentage points throughout
the last year.
"Crucially, finance leaders report little change in credit
conditions, suggesting that March's events in the global banking
system have not affected the pricing and availability of credit
for UK corporates," Deloitte Chief Economist Ian Stewart said.
The balance was the highest since the roll out of vaccines
for COVID-19 boosted hopes among CFOs in late 2020.
Worries about Brexit and the surge in energy prices had
faded for many CFOs, Stewart said.
A big majority of CFOs expected to see a significant growth
in capital spending on artificial intelligence (AI) over the
next five years and two thirds said AI would help raise
Britain's weak productivity growth.
The survey of 64 CFOs - 11 of them from FTSE 100 firms and
24 from FTSE 250 companies - was conducted between March 21 and
April 3.
(Reporting by William Schomberg, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)
Reuters Messaging: william.schomberg.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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