BEIJING, Dec 12 Reuters Sixty percent of British firms feel that a slowing Chinese economy presents a bigger challenge to their operations in the Asian giant than strict COVID curbs in place until late last year, according to the British Chamber of Commerce in China.

While the peak pessimism recorded during the pandemic is easing, British businesses are delaying making new investment in China amid a stuttering economic recovery and are downgrading the importance of the world39;s No. 2 economy to their global operations, the chamber39;s annual sentiment survey released on Tuesday showed.

Foreign investors have been sour on China for most of this year due to factors such as a weakerthanexpected postpandemic recovery, a series of office raids by Chinese authorities, cashstrapped local governments offering fewer investment incentives and higher investment yields in the United States.

In previous years, 80 of firms were investing more because of market potential, but it feels like we39;re now entering a phase of real clarity, Julian Fisher, the chamber39;s chair said.

Firms are a lot more pragmatic and there39;s a lot less speculation, he added.

AstraZeneca, BP, Jaguar Land Rover TAMOJL.UL and Shell are some of the chamber39;s members.

The chamber39;s findings, based on members39; views over October and November, revealed that 60 of companies felt that doing business in China had become more difficult over the past year, with 78 of such firms blaming economic factors….