The brothers Vitaliy Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, left, and Vladimir Klitschko, former professional boxer and Ukrainian businessman, pictured at the 53rd annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday January 16 2023. In the most pessimistic outlook in more than a decade, a global survey of CEOs showed on Monday that 73% expected global economic growth to decline over the next 12 months. Image for representation purposes only. | Photo credit: AP

In the most pessimistic outlook in more than a decade, a global survey of CEOs showed on Monday that 73% expected global economic growth to decline over the next 12 months.

release the annual survey on the first day of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting here, PwC said this was a significant departure from the optimistic outlook for 2021 and 2022, when more than two-thirds believed economic growth would slow would improve.

They are the most pessimistic CEOs about global economic growth since PwC started asking this question 12 years ago.

The survey further showed that almost 40% of CEOs do not think their organization would be economically viable in 10 years if it does not transform.

Inflation, macroeconomic volatility and geopolitical conflicts ranked among the top global threats, while cyber and health risks declined from a year ago.

The survey also showed that companies are cutting costs but not yet planning to cut staff or wages in their fight to retain talent following the ‘big quit’.

Leaders in France, Germany and the UK proved less optimistic about domestic growth than global growth compared to those in the US, Brazil, India and China.

The 26th annual survey was conducted among 4,410 CEOs from 105 countries and territories, including 68 Indian CEOs, between October and November 2022.