Survey: Most global CEOs upbeat on economy

There is much uncertainty in the world, but the majority of CEOs around the world believe global economic growth will “improve” over the next 12 months, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) 21st CEO Survey, “The Anxious Optimist in the Corner Office.”

“For the first time since we began asking the question in 2012, the majority of CEOs surveyed believe global economic growth will improve,” according to PwC, a multinational professional services network headquartered in London.

According to PwC, when all the data is in, 2017 will almost certainly turn out to be the best year the global economy has seen since 2010. Most of the world’s major economies are experiencing positive growth in contrast to the situation just a few years ago.

PwC said the United States economy is “chugging along” at 3 percent growth.

“The Trump administration’s pro-business agenda of deep corporate tax cuts and rolled back regulation has helped accelerate one of the longest stock market booms in history, while driving corporate confidence to new highs and jobless rates to new lows,” according to PwC. “It’s no wonder that North America is so positive, with nearly two-thirds of CEOs reporting that they believe global economic growth will improve, and a majority indicating that they are ‘very confident’ about their own organisation’s revenue growth in 2018.”

Other regions around the world are also improving economically.

“In 2015, Russia and Brazil were in recessions brought on by plummeting commodity prices and political unrest,” according to PwC. “The southern countries in the Eurozone — most notably Greece — were on the brink of default, or in default, on their debt and threatening to bring down the euro. And China’s surging growth had taken a hit from the Shanghai market crash. Now, global commodity prices seem to have stabilised at a moderate level. Russia and Brazil have returned to modest growth; China is doing well, and the Eurozone has mounted a steady recovery that looks set to continue in 2018. Even the UK economy, while slowing this past year, has not yet been severely impacted by Brexit.”