By: jackie.sauter

Looks like people within the finance industry are expecting the light at the end of the tunnel to be a long way off.

The Bethesda-based Association for Financial Professionals released its 2009 outlook survey today, and the view’s pretty bleak.

Here are some highlights (er, ‘lowlights’):

• 5 out of 6 financial professionals do not expect business to improve in 2009
• 49% expect their organizations to decrease the number of workers they employ over the next year
• 63% believe it will not be until at least mid-year 2009 before the credit markets begin to recover
• 79% of organizations expect to take additional “defensive actions” to conserve cash if short-term credit conditions not improve by mid-year

You can download the full survey from AFP here. (PDF)

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor