PwC: Hungarian CEOs confident about growth in 2016

PwCʼs annual CEO survey, which involved 1,409 business leaders globally and has included Hungary for the last five years, provides a detailed barometer of the plans and expectations of business leaders worldwide.

Asked what was most surprising about this yearʼs survey, Nick Kós, country managing partner for PwC Hungary, said it was “that Hungarian CEOs are more positive than their global peers both about their own revenue growth and global economic growth. In the last few years, we have seen them be more positive about global growth than global CEOs, but now 84% of them are also confident about their own companyʼs prospects. I think that is fascinating, as we are a people not necessarily renowned for being positive.”

With regard to their own company’s growth prospects abroad, 38% of Hungarian CEOs expect Germany to be the most important player this year, 21% foresee Romania playing a key role and 16% expect Russia to be important, the findings of the survey show.

“Traditional target markets remain attractive, Hungarian CEOs tend to focus increasingly on neighboring countries”, the analysis published today said.

The report also noted that there is less of an expectation of a global market, saying: “The majority of CEOs anticipate a multi-polar world rather than a globalizing one: with multiple value systems, rules of law, economic and trading models.”

When asked to rank the top three global trends they expect to transform stakeholder expectations of businesses within their sector over the next five years, CEOs listed technological advances (72%), demographic shifts (70%), shifts in global economic power (49%), resource scarcity and climate change (40%) and urbanization (35%).

Asked about possible threats to their progress, 85% of Hungarian CEOs said they were concerned about the lack of qualified professionals in their sector. Some 59% of those surveyed listed the Hungarian government’s response to fiscal deficit as a possible threat, according to PwC.