Two-thirds of CEOs see more threats facing their businesses today than three years ago, while just 27 percent believe global growth will improve over the next 12 months, a decline of 10 percentage points from in 2015, a report released by global professional services provider PwC Wednesday showed.
China's economic rebalancing, crude oil price falls and geopolitical security concerns are all driving an overall increase in uncertainty about the global economy's growth prospects.
Globally, only just over one-quarter (27 percent) of CEOs think global growth will improve over the next 12 months, compared with 37 percent last year, while 23 percent think it will worsen (17 percent in 2015). Almost one-third of China's CEOs (33 percent) believe global economic growth will slow down in 2016.
Only 35 percent are very confident of their own company's growth in the coming year, down four points from last year (39 percent).
Confidence in revenue growth is also down compared with last year for nearly every major economy in the world, with China at 24 percent, compared with 36 percent in 2015, and the U.S. at 33 percent, compared with 46 percent in 2015. Only Russia bucked the trend as confidence rose to 26 percent from a deep low of 16 percent last year.
Looking at investment prospects, the U.S., China, Germany and the UK remain the countries that CEOs view as most important for growth in the next 12 months. Mexico and the UAE have entered the top 10 in place of Indonesia and Australia.
Commenting on the survey results, Dennis Nally, global chairman of PwC, said in the release the pessimistic outlook for the year ahead is reinforced by the position of the U.S., China, Germany and the UK as being the most important for growth again.
