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CEO confidence plunges, long recession seen
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-28 18:09 Davos - Confidence among heads of the world's top companies meeting in Davos has tumbled to a new low, with the prospect of a long recession torpedoing faith in corporate prospects.
The findings from a poll of more than 1,100 CEOs sets a grim backdrop to a four-day meeting of the world's business and political elite in the Swiss ski resort, which begins on Wednesday. Crisis-hit bankers are thin on the ground at the snow-covered mountain town but policymakers will be working behind the scenes ahead of a summit of the G20 group of big and emerging countries in April and a G8 summit in July. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will both address the meeting later on Wednesday to give their policy prescriptions for dealing with the worst economic crisis in 80 years. The annual PricewaterhouseCoopers survey suggests the need for action is urgent, as a crisis that started in the US banking system hammers revenues across all regions and industries. Worldwide, just 21 percent of CEOs said they were very confident of growing revenue in the next 12 months, down from 50 percent a year ago. And hopes for a short "V"-shaped recession appear to have evaporated with most business leaders expecting no more than a slow and gradual recovery over the next three years. "The three-year view is a bit better but the bad news is it is not that much better," said Tony Poulter, global head of consulting at PwC. "The message is: there is a long term but we are not going to see it dawning immediately." Collective Gloom Delegates in Davos were united in the view that an global economic upturn is some way off. Lars Thunnel, head of the International Finance Corporation, the private arm of the World Bank, said he expected economic malaise sparked by the credit crisis to linger. |
