CFO confidence about the global economy has been at its highest since 2018, according to a CNBC survey.
According to the CNBC Global CFO Council survey for Q1 2021, finance leaders’ fears of the risk from Covid to their business outlook cut in half from just a quarter ago.
The CNBC Global CFO Council survey for the first quarter 2021 was conducted between March 2-March 23 among 42 members split between North America, Europe and Asia, CNBC noted.
The CFO sentiment has become more positive in every global region, with no region described as “declining” in Q1 2021, the first time that has happened since Q4 2018, according to a CNBC media report.
However, the short-term gains would vary by geography, the media report states.
The regions that CFOs see leading the global economic expansion are the US, China and Asia Pacific, ex-China/Japan, the media report says.
These are the only three regions described by CFOs as “improving” while every other global region was described as “stable”, the report adds.
Discrepancies in vaccine availability by country are one reason that an uneven recovery is expected, according to the media report.
In addition, finance leaders cited Covid variants and cases rising, potential corporate tax hikes, and tensions between the US and China as reasons for concern, the report says.
Yet, the overall sentiment among the CFOs surveyed is upbeat, with finance leaders expecting the global economic recovery to continue in 2021, the media report notes.
CFOs also believe that the bull market in stocks will continue and that the Dow is more likely to see a rise to 35,000 than a correction, according to the report.
