A recent international survey says that global business confidence has fallen to a three-year low.
As corporate leaders contemplate a rising tide of threats, the survey of more than 1,400 CEOs paints a gloomy picture of the global business environment.
This survey was made public at a gathering of political and business leaders in the Swiss resort of Davos for the annual World Economic Forum.
Dennis Nally, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) which commissioned the report said that the results were worrying.
"When you look at 2016, I think the CEOs are really concerned It's a less positive result this year than just a year ago, the trend line is not good," he said.
With analysts saying business confidence has not really recovered strongly since the Great Recession, the trend line has not looked good for some time.
According to Nally, China's economic problems are now at the top of the business worry list.
"China's at a significant transition as we all know, but I think it's just one more factor that raises questions and concerns. Instability of the markets - whether it's currency, volatility - it's just this continuation of events that create more instability and that creates uncertainty on the part of the CEOs. And when you're thinking about businesses and you're thinking about investments and where you're going to try to position your company for the longer term, not good for that type of thought process," he said.
China's Dalian Wanda Group is the world's largest real estate enterprise and the biggest five-star hotel owner in the world. There is no need to be concerned about China's economy said Wang Jianlin who has served as the group's chairman since 1989.
"Absolutely not. I do not only use the word 'not', I have to stress 'absolutely' not," he responded emphatically. It's true that there are difficulties in the investment and export sectors, maybe there's zero growth or even negative growth. But the service industry in China has great demand, especially in tourism, going abroad, sports, movies, catering,” he said.
PwC said just 27 per cent of CEOs expect global economic growth to improve over the next 12 months despite trillions of dollars of stimulus and record low interest rates among developed countries, PwC said just 27 per cent of CEOs expect global economic growth to improve over the next 12 months.
That compares with 37 per cent last year.
Business are being prevented from committing to big investments not only due to
just tepid economic growth and volatile markets.
"Concerns about the global economy, obviously, and the volatility that exists," said Dennis Nally.
"Secondly, the concerns about the geopolitical issues that are out there, which has got all the potential to continue to be disruptive and unstable, and you put the two together and the outlook for 2016 [is] not as encouraging as certainly most of us would have hoped for or expected at this point in time," he added.
(Source:www.abc.net.au)
As corporate leaders contemplate a rising tide of threats, the survey of more than 1,400 CEOs paints a gloomy picture of the global business environment.
This survey was made public at a gathering of political and business leaders in the Swiss resort of Davos for the annual World Economic Forum.
Dennis Nally, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) which commissioned the report said that the results were worrying.
"When you look at 2016, I think the CEOs are really concerned It's a less positive result this year than just a year ago, the trend line is not good," he said.
With analysts saying business confidence has not really recovered strongly since the Great Recession, the trend line has not looked good for some time.
According to Nally, China's economic problems are now at the top of the business worry list.
"China's at a significant transition as we all know, but I think it's just one more factor that raises questions and concerns. Instability of the markets - whether it's currency, volatility - it's just this continuation of events that create more instability and that creates uncertainty on the part of the CEOs. And when you're thinking about businesses and you're thinking about investments and where you're going to try to position your company for the longer term, not good for that type of thought process," he said.
China's Dalian Wanda Group is the world's largest real estate enterprise and the biggest five-star hotel owner in the world. There is no need to be concerned about China's economy said Wang Jianlin who has served as the group's chairman since 1989.
"Absolutely not. I do not only use the word 'not', I have to stress 'absolutely' not," he responded emphatically. It's true that there are difficulties in the investment and export sectors, maybe there's zero growth or even negative growth. But the service industry in China has great demand, especially in tourism, going abroad, sports, movies, catering,” he said.
PwC said just 27 per cent of CEOs expect global economic growth to improve over the next 12 months despite trillions of dollars of stimulus and record low interest rates among developed countries, PwC said just 27 per cent of CEOs expect global economic growth to improve over the next 12 months.
That compares with 37 per cent last year.
Business are being prevented from committing to big investments not only due to
just tepid economic growth and volatile markets.
"Concerns about the global economy, obviously, and the volatility that exists," said Dennis Nally.
"Secondly, the concerns about the geopolitical issues that are out there, which has got all the potential to continue to be disruptive and unstable, and you put the two together and the outlook for 2016 [is] not as encouraging as certainly most of us would have hoped for or expected at this point in time," he added.
(Source:www.abc.net.au)
