PwC Finds CEO Confidence Has Plunged

Global CEOs have replaced fear of terrorism and regulation with fear of recession, according to the 11th annual Global CEO survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Samuel DiPiazza, chief executive of PwC, said the survey showed a sharp swing from a year ago, when it recorded its highest levels of confidence in five years.

PwC's Global CEO Survey is releaesd each year at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting which opened yesterday in Davos, Switzerland.

For the first time in the 11 years history the survey has been done, a downturn topped the list of concerns. “CEOs are hunkering down,” DiPiazza told the Financial Times.

Their gloom was principally about the immediate future. “As CEOs look at the next 12 months, they’re concerned, but when they look out three years, they feel more confident,” DiPiazza said.

Moods were distinctly different by country. CEOs in the U.S., Britain, Canada, France and Italy were most pessimistic, while 90 percent of Indian CEOs and 73 percent of those polled in China said they were “very confident."