PwC survey: The CEOs who are the most negative about growth after ten years

By Divya Chowdhury & Anisha Sircar

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Confidence among companies in their growth prospects has dropped the most since the 2007-08 global financial crisis due to rising inflation, macroeconomic volatility and geopolitical conflicts, a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed.

According to PwC, 73% of global chief executives expect that the global economy will slow over the next 12 month, which is the worst view since the survey began ten years ago.

It was also noted by the “Big Four” auditor that it represented a departure from optimistic outlooks for 2021 and 2022.

A survey found that 60% of CEOs don’t plan to reduce their workforce over the next 12 month, and 80% plan to maintain talent and reduce attrition rates.

PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz stated that companies that did well in 2022 could face more difficult times in 2019, speaking to the Reuters Global Markets Forum. The meeting was held on the sidelines from the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at Davos.

Nearly 40% (out of 4,400) chief executives who were surveyed stated that their companies would not be financially viable within the next decade unless they innovated faster and transformed more quickly.

Moritz stated that “it is both the timeframe as well as the magnitude that is astonishing – how can I survive the next 2 to 3 years, make my way through a difficult macroeconomic environment, and transform my organization to be fit to grow over the next 10 year?”

The survey found that even though companies are cutting costs, many don’t intend to lower headcounts or salaries in their fight to retain talent.

Moritz stated that there is a growing differentiation between firms with a debt-driven balance that will be difficult to manage while they deal with rising interest rates, inflationary pressures and other factors.

The World Economic Forum (WEF), which surveyed chief economists from both the public and private sectors, found that two-thirds expect a global recession by 2023. The PwC survey also highlighted that half of the CEOs reported reducing operating expenses, 51% reported raising prices and 48% were diversifying their product and service offerings. – Climate risk didn’t feature as prominently in the survey as it did for other global risks. (Join GMF, a chat room hosted on Refinitiv Messenger: https://refini.tv/33uoFoQ) (Reporting by Divya Chowdhury in Davos, Savio Shetty in Mumbai and Anisha Sircar in Bengaluru; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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