Sixty-three per cent of Canadian CEOs say they predict a decline in the rate of economic growth in 2020, which compares to 53 per cent for CEOs surveyed globally, says PwC’s CEO Survey released Feb. 25.
Among Canadian CEOs’ main concerns are uncertain economic growth, policy uncertainty, availability of key skills, climate change and cyber security.
Only fourteen per cent of CEOs say they believe economic growth prospects will improve over the next year. However, 70 per cent of Canadian CEOs say are still somewhat or very confident about their organizations' potential for growth in the next year. Most say they “will continue to focus on organic growth and operational efficiencies, rather than looking to international markets to unlock growth.”
Confidence in the United States for growth prospects has declined. Forty-four per cent of respondents say they consider the United States a key market for their organizations' growth prospects, down from 60 per cent in 2019 and 88 per cent in 2018.
Availability of key skills
Three quarters of Canadian CEOs say they are concerned about the availability of key skills in their industry. Though more organizations say they are developing programs to upskill their talent from the inside, Canadian CEOs say they are “lagging in establishing upskilling programs that take on a more holistic approach by developing the right mix of soft, technical and digital skills.”
Climate change and cyber threats
Other concerns include climate change and the increasing complexity of cyber threats. More than six in ten CEOs (62 per cent) say they are concerned about environmental damage as threats to their growth. As for cyber threats, most CEOs (90 per cent) say the increasing complexity of threats is having the greatest impact in shaping their cybersecurity strategy, compared to 75 per cent last year.
Only one quarter of Canadian CEOs say that governments are designing privacy regulations “that actually increase consumer trust and that governments and businesses are effectively collaborating to harmonize cybersecurity strategies.”
"Canada's digital economy is thriving and with this comes the need for Canadian businesses to balance cyber risk with their digital transformation journey," says Nicolas Marcoux, CEO and Senior Partner, PwC Canada. "Public and private sector collaboration is essential to ensure that cyber and data privacy laws are sound and developed with the best interests of Canadians in mind."
