PwC’s 19th annual “Global CEO Survey,” released on Tuesday, revealed that the world’s CEOs have become increasingly pessimistic about the global economy.
The survey of more than 1,400 CEOs across 83 countries paints a worrying picture as they contemplate a rising tide of threats, including rising geopolitical uncertainty, exchange rate volatility, growing public debt and taxes, among other things (see below summary chart).
In fact, 78% of CEOs see more threats today than they did three years ago, with just over one quarter of CEOs believing that the economy will improve in 2016, and one-third feeling very confident about their revenue growth.
68% of CEOs also plan to “implement a cost-reduction strategy”, although more expect to increase headcount than reduce it (see next chart).
Turning specifically to Australia, just one-third of Aussie CEOs feel confident about revenue growth in the next 12 months, with only 31% of them believing that the local economy will improve in 2016.
Australia’s CEO’s also believe that the top priorities for the Government are implementing a stable and effective tax system (61%), building an adequate physical and digital infrastructure (53%), and facilitating a skilled workforce (49%).
Worryingly, Australia’s CEOs are also responding to the threats by focusing on cost-cutting measures (73%) and reducing headcount (41%), rather than going for growth by trying to boost productivity, innovation and R&D. Such moves would obviously have longer-term negative implications for the economy.
