THE Eurozone crisis has caused a sharp fall in confidence among senior business leaders and the possibility of a second banking crisis is weighing heavily on corporate sentiment, the CBI said yesterday.

On the eve of its annual conference, the UK's biggest employers' organisation, revealed the findings of new research carried out on its behalf by Ipsos MORI.

Of the 122 business leaders who took part, seventy per cent said their level of confidence in the economic outlook had fallen since the beginning of August and six out-of-ten were likely to revise their business strategy.

John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said: ""Business leaders believe the Government is right to stick to its deficit reduction strategy, but that it must go hand-in-hand with some fresh thinking and a more creative growth strategy."

When asked which specific areas the Chancellor should focus on in his autumn statement to stimulate growth, if he has room for manoeuvre, 80 per cent said investment in infrastructure should be made a priority. Some CBI members have called for more toll roads, which would spur private sector spending on motorways.

Mr Cridland added that the CBI was broadly supportive of the Coalition because its members agreed that the most important priority was to press ahead with deficit reduction.