The gloomy forecast was made in professional services firm Deloitte's second-quarter survey of 83 chief financial officers, representing companies worth a combined £260bn.
It showed 66 per cent disagreeing with US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's May statement that the worst of the crunch `is likely to be behind us'.
Corporate cashflow is coming under increased pressure as the squeeze makes credit harder to come by and more expensive, the survey found.
More than three quarters (77 per cent) of chief financial officer said credit is hard to obtain, up from 63 per cent in March and 48 per cent in September last year, Deloitte said.
Despite the recent falls of the FTSE 100 Index, financial bosses are bullish about prospects for takeover activity this year, with 49 per cent believing shares look cheap.
But a majority of respondents - 54 per cent - told Deloitte that they were likely to raise prices following the rise in inflation.
The company's director of research Ian Stewart said it was clear that firms `expect inflation to bite'. He added: "CFOs appear to prefer to raise prices rather than see margins be eroded."
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