DAVOS, Switzerland — Two out of three corporate CEOs around the world see a risky business environment and worry about growth prospects of their own companies, a survey released here Tuesday shows.
"Without question chief executive confidence levels are down in a very significant way year-to-year," said Dennis Nally, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the tax consulting group that did the study. It was released on the eve of the World Economic Forum here.
"Whether due to the economic environment or geopolitical factors, there's clearly more threats faced by CEOs today then we have seen over the last several years," Nally told USA TODAY.
The company's 19th annual survey of top issues and concerns canvassed more than 1,400 CEOs in 83 countries.
Only 35% said they are confident their own companies will see growth in the coming year, down four  percentage points from last year's survey.
"It's a little surprising when you think about how many years post the 2008 financial crisis that we've dealt with," Nally said. "One would have hoped that the trend lines were improving, but they are going in the exact opposite way. This is true all around the world. There's very few bright spots to talk through."


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Twenty-seven percent said global economic growth will get better over the next 12 months, compared with 37% last year. Only 16% of North American CEOs were optimistic, less than half of CEOs in the most optimistic regions — Western Europe(33%) and the Middle East (34%).
Pessimism about the global economy rose to 23%, from just 7% in 2014.
A third of China’s CEOs (33%) said global economic growth will slow down in 2016, the survey found.
Nally said CEOs are getting more concerned about an increasingly wider range of risks, including:
  • Over-regulation (79%)
     
  • Geopolitical uncertainty (74%)
     
  • Exchange rate volatility (73%)
     
  • Availability of key skills (72%)
     
  • Government response to fiscal deficit and debt burden (71%)
     
  • Increasing tax burden (69%)
     
  • Social instability (65%)
     
  • Cyber threats (61%)
     
  • Shift in consumer spending and behaviors (60%)
     
  • Lack of trust in business (55%)
     
  • Climate change and environmental damage (50%)
     
Nally noted that geopolitical concerns rose to one of the top concerns for the first time.
"Given the dynamics of the world, its complexities, CEOs have to be much more adaptive when trying to deal with many of the uncertainties we're talking about," he said.
"How do you pivot in a way to deal with issues that were not even on your (radar) six months ago? For example, look at the price of oil today. Who would of thought that we would be talking about oil below $30 per barrel as it is today," Nally said.


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He said that he expects the 1,500 business leaders attending the forum to focus more on long-term issues.
"CEOs are starting to think not just about the short-term demands of profitability and revenue growth but also ... what's going on with technology today and the impact it's having — in terms of how services and products are delivered, digitization — that's turning businesses upside down," he said..

USA TODAY asks PwC Chairman Dennis Nally whether Davos is all work or whether there is room for play as well. Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY
The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that it expects global economic activity to remain modest through 2017. The IMF's update to its October global outlook said global GDP would expand by 3.4% in 2016 and 3.6% in 2017.
It also said China's growth rate would hit 6.3% this year. Beijing announced Tuesday that the world's second-largest economy's growth rate slowed to 6.9%, its lowest level in 25 years.
The IMF characterized U.S. growth as robust. The U.S. economy grew 2% last year.
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