New research into business confidence worldwide from leading international association of professional services firms, MSI Global Alliance, has revealed that comparatively low levels of confidence in the developed economies of North America and Europe do not augur well for global economic prospects.

According to the MSI Global Feelgood Index, which uses weighted averages of seven key business performance indicators, the balance of confidence is finely balanced at the global level (+0.08). It is barely positive in North America (+0.04), with western Europe even more downbeat (-0.02).

Sentiment remains particularly negative around the prospects for spending on investment capital in the US (-0.07) and in the UK (-0.23).

However, the opposite is true in most developing economic regions, with business confidence remaining significantly positive in the Middle East (+0.33), Latin America (+0.27), and southern Africa (+0.22).

Confidence is also positive, but only marginally so, in the Australia and New Zealand (+0.03) and perhaps unexpectedly, confidence in the Indian region (including Pakistan and Bangladesh) is even lower (-0.28) than in the US. Levels of confidence in the prospects for spending on investment capital are noticeably higher in Mexico (+0.33) and in Malaysia (+0.5).

James Mendelssohn, chief executive of MSI Global Alliance, said: “The Global Feelgood Index provides a fascinating insight into the balance of confidence in 105 countries worldwide.

“Going forward, it will provide companies with a benchmark they can refer to on a quarterly basis when looking at prospects for the global economy.”

“After months of low confidence in the global economy, the balanced outlook is encouraging, and we can now hope that this position will eventually turn into a positive one in the very near future,” said Jean-Philippe Chetcuti, managing partner at Chetcuti Cauchi, MSI’s member firm for Malta.