The escalating coronavirus crisis has already made a significant impact on business confidence among British companies. Lloyds Bank’s business confidence index has declined to -3% during the week of March 9, the lowest reading since the 2009 financial crisis.

In the first half of March, business confidence fell to 6%, a decline by 17 points, while hiring intentions declined 12 points to 4%. Over 70% of businesses indicated that they have already started or were about to start experiencing the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.

GfK consumer confidence also fell from -7 to -9 for the month of March. The previous reading had been the highest level for this index since August 2018, on account of reigning Brexit related uncertainties.

Although the British government and the BOE have announced several emergency stimulus measures since then to offset weakness in the economy, the worsening crisis surrounding the virus is expected to further deteriorate business confidence and even keep consumer spending in check in the near future.