Irish CEOs confidence in the economy drops to lowest level since 2009
Confidence in the Irish economy by the majority of Irish CEOs is at the lowest level since 2009.
Irish CEOs who believe the outlook for the Irish economy is favourable has fallen to just 16%, a drop from last year when the same figure was 57%.
The figures are contained in PwC’s 2020 Irish CEO survey. While there was pessimism about the Irish economy, 67% of company heads are confident about their organisations’’ future revenue growth.
Growth, however, remains on the agenda with many Irish CEOs believing their organisations will remain resilient for whatever the future holds.
A majority of CEOs (67%) are confident about their organisation’s revenue growth and nearly half of respondents (47%) plan to hire more people in the year ahead.
PwC Ireland Managing Partner Feargal O’’Rourke said Ireland is bucking some global economic trends. "Our economy is performing well, unemployment is at almost record lows and foreign direct investment remains strong. But it is not surprising, given all that is going on globally that business confidence in Ireland has fallen so dramatically," he said.
This survey includes the views of 125 Irish CEOs in a study conducted in September and October 2019 and prior to Covid-19 having hit the general consciousness.
Irish CEOs have been more concerned than their global counterparts about the shortage of key skills for the past seven years. This year, 57% of Irish CEOs say upskilling employees is the most important action to close the skills gap in their organisation, up from 30% last year.
However, they are not making much headway in tackling the problem with only 12% saying they have made ‘significant progress’ at establishing an upskilling programme that develops a mix of soft, technical and digital skills.
In relation to climate change, the survey found Irish CEOs are significantly more concerned about climate change risks and environmental damage (74%) than they were last year (56%),Kim McClenaghan, Partner, PwC Ireland Energy, Utilities and Sustainability Practice, said: “Compared to a decade ago, when we last asked this question, Irish respondents are now twice as likely to agree that investing in climate change initiatives will lead to significant new product and service opportunities for their organisation."
"However, Global CEOs (63%) are much more likely to see the benefits - take for example China where this number is as 91%."
[
