CEO confidence plunged to its lowest level since 2003, when PwC began tracking CEOs’ forecasts. Worldwide, just 21 per cent of CEOs said they were very confident of revenue growth in the next 12 months, down from 50 per cent in last year’s survey. And more than a quarter of CEOs said they were pessimistic about prospects for the coming year. The survey results were released at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
CEOs worldwide were also gloomier about longer-term growth as well, predicting a slow recovery. Only 34 per cent said they were very confident of growth over the next three years, down from 42 per cent last year, when CEOs were just beginning to recognize the full impact of the credit crisis on the global economy. Illustrating the changing mood, CEOs confidence worsened over the course of the surveying as negative economic news unfolded.
Pessimism prevailed across all geographic regions, business sectors and levels of economic development, the survey found. Only 15 per cent of CEOs in North America and 15 per cent in Western Europe expressed confidence about growth prospects for the next 12 months. This compared with 21 per cent in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe, 31 per cent in Asia Pacific, and 21 per cent in Latin America.
