The presidents of Spanish companies stand out for their fear of the impact on their accounts of government regulations, according to the traditional survey among heads of multinationals with which the World Economic Forum begins its annual edition in the Swiss town of Davos.
When asked what are the main risks for their company in the next ten years, the average of the more than 4,000 businessmen surveyed places changes in consumer demand first,
but the Spanish place the main challenge for their profitability " regulation"
.
70% of Spanish executives are afraid of government regulations, while the international average is 52%, according to the survey carried out by the multinational consulting firm PwC for a quarter of a century.
In contrast, the Prime Minister,
Pedro Sánchez
, has organized an intense schedule of contacts in Davos with multinationals to try to attract investment through European funds.
Where there is no marked difference in perception in the survey is in the pessimism with which they all face the year.
73% of the world's top executives -and 76% of Spaniards- predict a worsening of the economic situation in 2023
.
"CEOs are extremely pessimistic about the economic situation this year in a dramatic change compared to 2022," says PwC in its study.
In fact, it is the most pessimistic attitude in the last twelve years, that is, since the last financial crisis.
NO JOB CUTS
The good news is that this loss of optimism will not translate, according to the survey, into job cuts.
60% of employers say they are not considering reducing their workforce
and 80% do not plan to try to lower the salaries of their employees.
Most say the best defense is to transform the business, cut costs, improve productivity and diversify your revenue streams.
But they predict a demanding year in which confidence in the survey plummets 26% compared to last year.
"In Spain, the percentage of managers who are completely confident in meeting their revenue targets has
fallen from 64% to 26% compared to last year," summarizes the consultant
.
The change in what they consider to be the main dangers of the year is also striking.
The cybersecurity and health that stood out in 2022 have given way to inflation, economic volatility and geopolitical conflicts with a special focus on Ukraine.
Climate change is not even in the top five.
A novelty in the survey is the question of how much the businessman estimates the average life of his company will be and the answer is tremendous:
40% believe that their companies will cease to be viable in ten years if there is no change in the environment.
It does not matter if they are technological, industrial, health or telecommunications companies, the percentage of fear of loss of viability is similar to the world average.
The pessimism of this survey coincides with another published this Monday by the Davos Forum carried out among economists from large public and multinational organizations.
The result is that more than 60% of the heads of study services foresee a global recession in 2023.
18% even consider it "extremely likely" twice as much as four months ago
.
Only a third of those surveyed saw it as unlikely this year.
In view of the data, the managing director of the Forum,
Saadia Zahidi
, argues that "the current environment of high inflation, low growth, high indebtedness and great fragmentation reduces the incentives for the investments necessary to return to growth and raise the levels of lives of the world's most vulnerable".
There is confidence among those surveyed that inflation is reaching its ceiling, but the majority bet that the contral banks will continue with their policy of raising interest rates.
Beyond these short-term problems, the dominant concern in the current edition of the Forum is
the fragmentation of globalization: the formation of blocs that put an end to the advances of
previous decades.
The managing director of the International Monetary Fund,
Kristalina Georgieva
, warns in a letter addressed to the Forum that this new 'cold war' may cost the world economy between 7 and 12% of the Gross Domestic Product, depending on the country, if the fragmentation is "severe".
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
Davos
Price Waterhouse
Ministry of Defence
ERTE