Nearly half of CEOs worldwide believe the global economy will decline even further in the next 12 months, according to PwC's 15th Annual Global CEO Survey. And just 15 percent of the 1,258 CEO polled say the global economy will improve during 2012.
"CEO confidence is decidedly down as they deal with the aftershocks to the recession. The optimism that had been building cautiously since 2008 has begun to recede," says Dennis M. Nally, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International.
On the brighter side, 40 percent of CEOs said they are 'very confident' of revenue growth for their companies in the next 12 months, down from the 48 percent last year. In addition, more than half of CEOs worldwide expect to increase headcount in the next 12 months, although that finding varies wildly by sector, with entertainment and media being the brightest spots.
Geographically, the biggest decline in confidence was in Western Europe, with just a quarter of European CEOs saying they were very confident of revenue growth, down from nearly 40 percent last year. In the U.S., 41 percent of CEOs said they were very confident of short term growth, down slightly from 45 percent last year.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.