A growing number of US executives said that they feared recession no matter who won the recent presidential election, according to PWC’s pulse survey.
Even though the Federal Reserve cut interest rates in September and inflation is low, 61 per cent of respondents agreed that the US economy would experience recession in the coming six months, compared with 49 per cent in June 2024.
“Geopolitical tensions, concerns about a slowing labour market, uncertainty about the election, a distracted electorate and consumers still squeezed by higher costs are contributing [to fears of recession],” the report said.
Risks transcend politics
Despite the fact that the survey was conducted just before the election results, executives said that the risks their organisations would face would exist under either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.
In fact, state governments and federal regulators had a bigger impact on businesses than presidential elections, the survey found. “When asked which government entities affect their company most, more than half (53 per cent) rank state governments and federal regulatory agencies (52 per cent) in their top three. Those were followed by local governments (44 per cent) and Congress (43 per cent) — all ahead of the president,” it said.
But more (56 per cent) respondents said that their companies’ investment into compliance and regulatory affairs would have increased under Harris than the 47 per cent who said so under the-now President Trump. Three out of four said that they expected more regulation in future no matter who was elected.
Business risks remain
Perhaps unsurprisingly, cyber threats remained the number one business risk with 75 per cent of respondents saying that they posed a moderate or serious risk. The report said that the risk was worse because many US companies had failed to invest in newer technologies.
“Many are running outdated systems and software that trigger hidden costs and create new opportunities for cyber criminals — and this is putting significant pressure on CEOs from the board and technology leaders to make upgrades,” it said.
