Confidence in the prospects for business this year has plunged dramatically among manufacturers in Brazil, Russia, India and China, in the latest sign that the global economic crisis is still broadening.

The steep falls in optimism in the so-called Bric 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.