Business confidence in the Middle East in Q3 of 2012 was positive, according to a new study.

ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE in the Middle East has been reported to be highest in the third quarter of 2012, in a joint study done by Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

Global, economic confidence has fallen according to the report titled ‘Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS)’, with statistics showing 67% of surveyed finance professionals think the global economy is stagnating or reversing.

The survey suggests this pessimism is due to negatively changing business fundamentals in real economy and the expected recovery in early 2013 is down to misplaced optimism.

“This quarter has seen business confidence fall for all the right reasons. The fundamentals of the business environment are deteriorating, and businesses are once again having the kinds of liquidity problems we thought we had put behind us,” ACCA senior economic analyst and survey editor Manos Schizas said.

The report shows the negative affect China’s economic downturn is having on business confidence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Underlining the interconnectedness of the global economy, IMA’s vice president of research Raef Lawson said the slowdown in Asia; the Eurozone debt crisis; the sluggish US recovery; all are “feeding into each other and no region is unaffected”.

In UK, the overall economic conditions are still considered poor and impacted by issues such as government spending cuts. For the GECS Q3 2012, ACCA and IMA surveyed 2,550 finance professionals.