The steep falls in optimism in the so-called Brics countries came as confidence deteriorated still further in European Union countries, according to the latest KPMG/Markit business outlook survey. The results suggest that the knock-on effects of the slump in economic activity in the world's largest industrial economies late last year were continuing to play out.

“So much for decoupling,” said Andrew Smith, chief economist at KPMG. “The severity of the current weakness in the US, Europe and Japan is clearly hitting the external sectors of the Brics economies hard as export demand and foreign investment weakens.”