Business leaders see rise in economic nationalism as the main threat

A new KPMG survey of over 1,300 business leaders from around the world found that CEOs consider the rise of economic nationalism, with Brexit and Donald Trump’s new policies foremost in their minds, to be the biggest threat for growth.

It also found that UK business leaders are the most pessimistic.

Bill Michael, chairman at KPMG in the UK said that two-thirds of CEOs are confident about the global economic outlook.

Even more also see better growth prospects for their own organisations with an increasing majority believing disruptive technologies were in fact an opportunity, rather than a threat.

On the flip-side, the survey found that a "return to territorialism" was considered the biggest threat to growth, especially in the UK.

In more practical terms, British firms also had the lowest investment intentions of the 20 EU nations included in the study.

Geopolitical uncertainty, such as the tensions in trade relations between the US and China, or the America's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal also had everyone on edge, with 55% of CEOs revealing strong concerns around those topics.

Some were already even accelerating their business transformation plans in response.

Economic nationalism was closely followed by cyber risk; specifically, the challenge of connecting with their customers in the Digital Age and amid fast-changing customer expectations.

Nevertheless, and despite all those uncertainties, in general CEOs remained optimistic about growth at the macroeconomic level.