CEO confidence in Asia-Pacific at lowest since 2012 - PwC

MANILA - Asia Pacific CEOs believe prospects for business growth over the next 12 months are dimming fast. Ahead of the annual APEC Leaders Meeting this week, business leaders express a number of concerns in PwC’s fifth annual APEC CEO Survey.

Volatility in the financial markets this summer took a toll on CEO confidence, with just 28% of business leaders now ‘very confident’ their organisation will see revenue growth over the next 12 months. That’s down from 46% a year ago, and it is the lowest level since PwC started tracking 12-month confidence for Asia Pacific CEOs in 2012.
But concerns are not just economic. Cyber security, exposure to natural disaster risks and regional geopolitical tensions are among the leading threats to business investment and growth.
Confidence differs across the region, with 51% of business leaders very confident of business growth in the Philippines during the next year, compared with 34% in the US and 20% in China.
PwC also found some marked contrast in confidence levels by size of company, with mid-sized companies less than half as confident – only 15% very confident of revenue growth in the next 12 months – than both large and small companies.
Mid-sized companies feel the squeeze when they have expanded beyond their traditional markets but are not large enough to easily weather shocks to the system.
Despite their dwindling confidence in revenue growth, the majority of CEOs (53%) still plan to increase investments over the next 12 months, with most of that investment (68%) planned for the APEC region.
There is a clear diversification of investment within the APEC region.
While China, the US, and Indonesia remain the main draws for CEO business investment, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore are attractive toCEOs, half of whom say they plan to raise investment during the next year. www.pwc.com (ATI).