45% of Domestic Company CEOs Say "Economy Looks Bleak This Year"... Negative Outlook Up 15%P
[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] As global economic uncertainty grows this year, the economic outlook of domestic company CEOs has turned noticeably negative.
According to the '2022 Economic Outlook Survey' announced on the 15th by EY Hanyoung, a global accounting consulting firm (CEO Park Yong-geun), 45% of the 319 domestic company CEOs surveyed had a negative outlook. This survey targeted domestic company CEOs who attended the '2022 EY Hanyoung New Year Economic Outlook Seminar' held last month, and the negative outlook increased by 16 percentage points compared to the same survey last year.
The smaller the business scale, the more skeptical the economic outlook. Among companies with capital exceeding 5 trillion won, only 39% responded negatively, whereas companies with capital under 500 billion won recorded a majority negative response of 51%.
This outlook is interpreted as being influenced more by external uncertainties such as geopolitical conflicts, major countries' growth slowdown, and tightening policies rather than the direct impact of COVID-19. Only 17% of respondents considered the impact of COVID-19 on the domestic economy to be significant.
The financial industry showed the most pessimistic economic predictions. Among financial industry CEOs and executives, who accounted for 29% of survey respondents, a majority of 53% predicted a 'negative' outlook for the domestic economy this year.
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Confidence in business management this year also declined overall. 64% of businesspeople expected their company's performance to 'grow compared to last year,' which is 7 percentage points lower than last year. However, in the ICT, bio, and media & entertainment sectors, positive performance expectations were overwhelming regardless of capital size. Choi Jae-won, head of EY-Parthenon at EY Hanyoung, stated, “The gap between rich and poor companies will become more pronounced over the next three years,” and suggested bold 'business transformation' as a strategy for companies to survive and grow in this era of 'The Great Divide.'
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