Largest UK firms perception of economic uncertainty 2021

This statistic presents ratings of the level of external economic and financial uncertainty influencing the largest companies in the United Kingdom, according to their chief financial officers. Data is presented quarterly from surveys conducted in the first quarter of 2016 to the second quarter of 2021. Owing to the global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, just over 70 percent of respondents rated the level of uncertainty as high or very high in the fourth quarter of 2020. By the second quarter of 2021, this had halved to 35 percent.

How would you rate the general level of external financial and economic uncertainty facing your business?

Characteristic	Very high level of uncertainty	High level of uncertainty	Above normal level of uncertainty	Normal level of uncertainty	Below normal level of uncertainty
Q1 2016	3%	26%	54%	16%	1%
Q2 2016	37%	28%	31%	4%	1%
Q3 2016	7%	32%	50%	11%	1%
Q4 2016	11%	39%	40%	10%	1%
Q1 2017	7%	27%	52%	15%	0%
Q2 2017	10%	33%	49%	7%	1%
Q3 2017	7%	28%	51%	15%	0%
Q4 2017	9%	30%	45%	17%	0%
Q1 2018	6%	26%	54%	15%	0%
Q2 2018	3%	22%	55%	19%	0%
Q3 2018	18%	31%	41%	11%	0%
Q4 2018	24%	35%	37%	5%	0%
Q1 2019	23%	32%	42%	3%	1%
Q2 2019	11%	41%	44%	4%	0%
Q3 2019	19%	43%	34%	4%	0%
Q4 2019	4%	29%	50%	17%	0%
Q1 2020	66%	23%	8%	2%	1%
Q2 2020	38%	42%	20%	0%	0%
Q3 2020	40%	39%	20%	1%	0%
Q4 2020	28%	43%	28%	1%	0%
Q1 2021	9%	37%	44%	9%	1%
Q2 2021	9%	26%	55%	10%	0%

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Release date

July 2021

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

Q1 2016 to Q2 2021

Number of respondents

107 respondents

Age group

18 years and older

Special properties

Chief financial officers*

Supplementary notes

* CFOs of 21 FTSE 100 and 43 FTSE 250 companies. The rest were CFOs of other UK-listed companies, large private companies and UK subsidiaries of major companies listed overseas.

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