CEOs less confident about global growth prospect: PwC survey

The Chief Executive Officers around the world are less confident about global economic prospects than one year ago, according to the result of a survey released by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Tuesday.

According to the result of 18th annual global CEO survey, which was unveiled by the PwC here at the World Economic Forum, 37 percent of the CEOs involved in the survey think the outlook will improve over the next 12 months, compared with 44 percent last year.

It is worth mentioning that 17 percent think the outlook will worsen, more than twice as many as last year.

Meanwhile, 39 percent of CEOs are very confident of their business growth prospects in the coming year and 37 percent of CEOs are confident that global economic growth will improve.

CEOs in different parts of the world have different views about the growth prospects. CEOs in Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East see more growth opportunities today in the past. Those in Latin America and Africa are more likely to see more threats today than previously.

"In general, the economic and business climate isn't giving CEOs any great cause for celebration," said a PwC report on the survey.

The survey also found 78 percent of CEOs are concerned about over regulation and 56 percent of them think cross sector competition is on the rise.

The survey was conducted on the basis of 1,322 interviews with CEOs in 77 countries and regions. The sample is selected based on the percentage the total Gross Domestic Product of countries and regions included in the survey, to ensure CEOs' views are fairly represented across all major countries and regions of the world.

The interviews were also spread across a range of industries.