36% of Bangladeshi CEOs bullish on economic growth: PwC survey 

In a more optimistic outlook, 36% of Bangladeshi CEOs now expect economic growth to improve in 12 months.

The percentage represents a significant increase from 31% last year, according to the latest Annual Global CEO Survey by international advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The survey among 4,702 CEOs from 105 countries including 52 from Bangladesh also found that the Bangladeshi CEOs are more confident when it is about longer-term growth.

PwC Bangladesh in a statement yesterday said that they found 43% of local CEOs are optimistic about their business growth in the next three years, while only 24% are confident about their revenue growth in the next 12 months.

The CEOs were found to have been deeply thinking about the need for the long-term transformation of their firms, in line with the global trend, as 57% eye changing their business model while 47% have already adopted new technologies to improve their product quality and processes, and 28% have built their own teams for technology development.

Energy efficiency and decarburisation seemed to have been a priority as 72% of Bangladeshi CEOs say their firms improved in energy efficiency terms.

Reflecting the rising appeal of artificial intelligence (AI), nearly eight in every 10 CEOs say they believe generative AI would help improve their own work efficiency in 12 months while 74% expect the same for their workers. Besides, 57% expect revenue boost while 60% believe AI would help improve their profitability.

"We see a rising number of CEOs in Bangladesh who are keen to critically assess their organisation's long-term relevance with respect to global megatrends," said Arijit Chakraborti, director and office managing partner of PwC Bangladesh.

"CEOs in Bangladesh continue to deal with short-term challenges and long-term opportunities for their business. An increasing number of CEOs are leading the transformation of their organisations through technology adoption, driving impactful changes and delivering meaningful results for their stakeholders," said Mamun Rashid, country clients and markets leader of PwC Bangladesh Strategic Implications for Leadership.