McKinsey Survey: Business Leaders Gloomy About Global Economy

A new McKinsey report released on Tuesday showed that there is widespread pessimism among business leaders over the prospects of the global economy.

Almost half of the 1,349 executives who were surveyed in early June believes the global economy would worsen until the end of 2012, while only 20 per cent are optimistic that an improvement would occur.

Ironically, survey respondents from the eurozone, which is the centre of the debt crisis, are more optimistic than those from other continents. Only 32 per cent of executives from the eurozone anticipate a recession.

"These results are no doubt linked to the political and economic uncertainty in the eurozone, where 46 per cent of global respondents expect to see a recession in six months," Skynews quoted the McKinsey report.

Among the risks to economic contraction that the business leaders cited is the low consumer demand in their respective countries. Other risks cited by the executives include the possibility of a Greek debt defaults and its impact on economic growth.

While the gloomy outlook was varied by region, one common outlook was optimism when it came to their enterprises. About half expect their business profit to increase in the next six months while only 15 per cent anticipate lower demand for their products or services.

About 25 per cent of North American leaders said the global situation is worse now compared to six months ago, while 81 per cent of Indian executives and 52 per cent of eurozone industry leaders shared the same pessimistic outlook.