1、Global economic conditions survey report:Q1,2025.GLOBAL ECONOMIC CONDITIONS SURVEY REPORT:Q1,2025Executive summary 2Confidence fell markedly in North America amid a huge fall in the U.S.Confidence in North America is at its lowest ever and in the U.S.it is at its second lowest.Commentary from U.S.su

2、rvey respondents suggests that tariffs have been the key factor weighing on sentiment,as well as cuts in government spending.Expectations for increases in the latter have recently collapsed(see Chart 3).Meanwhile,the U.S.Capital Expenditure and Employment indices both declined and are at very low le

3、vels historically.More encouragingly,the New Orders Index rose again and is not too far below its average.Elsewhere,there were decent gains in confidence in Asia Pacific and Western Europe,despite the growing risk to exports from tariffs(see Chart 2).In the former,there was a sharp jump in sentiment

4、 in China,likely reflecting further signs of improvement in the economy,increasing policy support,and gains in the stock market.The rise in confidence in Western Europe was driven by the UK,amid some improvement from a record low in Q4.Cost pressures rose globally and in most regions.They remain ver

5、y elevated in Western Europe and rose quite materially in North America.This could complicate the job of the U.S.Federal Reserve if slowing growth begins to increase the need for monetary easing (see Chart 6).Accountants identified their top risk priorities in Q1.Although the economy remained the hi

6、ghest overall risk,responses across sectors stood out.For example,cybersecurity was the highest for financial services and tied in first with talent scarcity for the public and not-for-profit sector.The corporate sector ranked economic woes first and geopolitical instability a tight second.Unsurpris