CEOs not too upbeat on global growth, sentiment hits record low; check where India stands on list

Even as the global economy sees a slowdown, the confidence of the CEOs is also showing a downside, with more than half expecting a fall in the rate of economic growth in 2020, a report said. It’s the highest level of pessimism since the survey began in 2012, even if up from 29 per cent in 2019 and just 5 per cent in 2018, PwC’s survey said. On the other hand, there is a fall in the number of CEOs expecting a surge in the rate of economic growth. “Given the lingering uncertainty over trade tensions, geopolitical issues and the lack of agreement on how to deal with climate change, the drop in confidence in economic growth is not surprising – even if the scale of the change in mood is,” said Bob Moritz, Chairman, of the PwC Network.

In addition, the CEOs are not too optimistic about their own businesses either, with only 27 per cent saying they were ‘very confident’ in their own organisation’s growth over the next 12 months. It’s the lowest level the survey has seen since 2009, the report also said. Even as the confidence level is generally low worldwide, it varies from country to country, with China and India showing the highest levels of confidence among major economies. The US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France and Japan have the least optimistic CEOs.

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“If one word were to sum up the global CEO sentiment today, it would be uncertainty. It is hard to think of an organisation that is directly or indirectly not impacted by the factors of climate change, security in using technology, the increasing need to upskill their people and over-regulation. That said, this uncertainty provides a golden opportunity for organisations to make the right investments for the future,” Shyamal Mukherjee, Chairman, PwC in India said. Meanwhile, the IMF has estimated the global growth to reach 3.3 per cent in 2020, compared to 2.9 per cent in 2019, the slowest pace since the financial crisis a decade ago.

Source: Financial Express