Davos 2014: Most world CEOs see improvement this year

Twice as many chief executives around the world as last year believe the global economy will improve in the next 12 months and 39% say they are “very confident” their company's revenues will grow in 2014, PwC's 17th Annual Global CEO Survey shows.

The report has been presented to delegates at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Global economy: The number of CEOs who see improvement in the global economy over the next 12 months leapt to 44%, up from only 18% last year. And just 7% predict the global economy will decline, sharply down from 28% in 2013.

Regionally, CEOs in Western Europe are the most confident about short-term global economic prospects (50%), in line with signs of improving conditions. They are followed by those in the Middle East (49%), Asia Pacific (45%), Latin America (41%), North America (41%) and Africa (40%). CEOs in Central and Eastern Europe show the lowest level of confidence at 26%.

By industry, CEOs in the Hospitality and Leisure sector are most confident about prospects for the next 12 months (46%), followed by those in Banking and Capital Markets (45%), Retail (44%), Financial Services (44%), Asset Management (44%), Communications (44%), and Engineering & Construction (41%). CEOs in the Metals industry are least confident at 19%.

Revenue growth: For their own companies, 39% of CEOs say they are “very confident” of revenue growth prospects for the next 12 months. That's up from 36% last year. Confidence in revenue growth reached a low of 21% in 2009.

CEOs in the Middle East, 69%, are the most confident of short term revenue growth, up from 53% last year. They are followed by those in Asia Pacific at 45%, up from 36% last year.

In Western Europe, confidence has risen 8% from last year's trough to reach 30%. But in Africa confidence has continued to fall. Just 40% of African CEOs are very confident of 12-month growth, down from 44% last year and 57% in 2012. Confidence has also dipped among Latin American CEOs, to 43%, down from 53% last year. Meanwhile, CEO confidence in North America remains flat at 33%.

At an individual country level, confidence varies very widely: the highest levels of CEO confidence are found in Russia, where 53% of CEOs are very confident of revenue growth, followed by Mexico (51%) and Korea 50%.

Korea has had a huge swing in confidence up from only 6% last year. It is followed by India (49%), China (48%), Switzerland (42%), Brazil (42%), US (36%), Germany (33%), UK (27%), Canada (27%), Japan (27%), Italy (27%), France (22%) and, finally, Argentina where only 10% of CEOs are very confident of revenue growth in 2014.

• The PwC's survey involved 1344 interviews conducted in 68 countries during the last quarter of 2013. By region, 445 interviews were conducted in Asia Pacific, 442 in Europe, 212 in North America, 165 in Latin America, 45 in Africa and 35 in the Middle East.