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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Majority of CEOs believe global economic

growth will improve in 2021

One year after COVID-19 was declared a "After a year of human tragedy and extensive economic
pandemic, CEOs are voicing record levels of hardship, it is encouraging to see that the people re-
optimism in the global economic recovery, with sponsible for making investment decisions and hiring
76% of global business leaders predicting that staff are feeling cautiously optimistic about the year
economic growth will improve in 2021. ahead. CEOs have faith that growth will return, boosted
by the rapid development of vaccines and their rollout
The figures come from PwC's 24th Annual Global CEO in many parts of the world," said Bob Moritz, Chairman
Survey, which this year polled 5,050 CEOs in 100 of the PwC Network.
countries and territories over January and February
2021. "During the tumultuous past year, CEOs have had to
rethink and reconfigure what they do and how they do
The percentage of CEOs expressing confidence in it, while dealing with stretched balance sheets and sup-
growth is up from 22% in 2020 and 42% in 2019, repre- porting employees who have been forced to navigate
senting the highest level of optimism since the survey these extraordinary circumstances.
started asking this question in 2012.
"CEOs now face two fundamental challenges: first, how
Optimism among CEOs over global economic growth is to build trust with a broad range of stakeholders, whose
particularly strong in North America and Western Eu- expectations of business are higher than ever before;
rope, with 86% and 76% of CEOs, respectively, from and second, how to adapt their businesses and deliver
these regions predicting improved global growth in the sustained outcomes in a rapidly changing external envi-
year ahead. ronment. Organizations that get this right will be best
placed to come out of the pandemic as strong, resilient

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