Business confidence for the July to September period plunged across the nation, with the perception gap regarding the state of the economy widening between larger and smaller firms, according to a Finance Ministry survey released Sept. 12.

The ministry's quarterly survey was conducted on 11,255 companies Aug. 1. The results indicate that confidence in the economy dropped against forecasts for the quarter that were made back in May. The survey's business sentiment index shows that large firms that felt the economy on the decline exceeded those which responded that business was picking up by 0.9 percent.

The July-September forecast in the May survey projected that optimistic firms would exceed pessimistic ones by 7.6 percent. For small enterprises, 22.8 percent more firms felt the economy had worsened, an increase of nearly 10 percentage points compared to May's forecast of 12.9 percent.

The same trend could be seen for both large and small companies and for manufacturers and nonmanufacturers. The survey results underscore the general feeling that the economy slowed after the consumption tax increase in April.

But ministry officials pointed to the fact that survey figures show that firms believe the business outlook will brighten from October on, and said that while there was a temporary deterioration of business confidence, in general it was expected to pick up gradually.