Confidence among CEOs of multinational companies based in China has dropped to its lowest level since the country ended its zero-COVID policy in late 2022, according to a report by the Conference Board.
The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence for China, which had shown modest improvement in the first half of 2024, fell below the critical 50-point threshold in the second half of the year, declining to 49 from 56. The report noted that this decrease stemmed from a rise in negative responses across all three sub-indexes: current business conditions, future business conditions, and future industry conditions.
The report revealed increasing pessimism about current business conditions, with the related sub-index dropping to 43 from 53 earlier in the year. Additionally, 41% of CEOs reported that business conditions had worsened compared to six months ago.
Despite the current challenges, 57% of CEOs acknowledged that profits generated in China remain higher than in other regions, underscoring the country’s ongoing role as a key growth driver amid global economic uncertainties.
Long-term optimism among CEOs also remains relatively strong. The report found that 65% of executives expect demand in China to surpass the global average over the next five years, while 32% anticipate it will align with that of major global markets.
Alfredo Montufar-Helu, head of the Conference Board’s China Centre, noted that 76% of CEOs identified China’s economic slowdown as the primary risk to their businesses. He explained that many companies are struggling to meet the demands of price-sensitive consumers, who are either seeking significant discounts or deferring purchases. Local competitors, he added, have compounded these challenges by adapting swiftly to market shifts and adopting aggressive pricing strategies to capture market share.
| GDP (nominal) | Capital | Head of State | Head of Government | GDP (nominal) per capita | GDP (PPP) | GDP (PPP) | GDP (PPP) per capita |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | Beijing | Xi Jinping | Li Qiang | 17.700.899 | 12.541 | 35.004.000 | 23.309 |
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