KPMG CEO Outlook Report

KPMG has released its 10th edition of the CEO Outlook Report. The report surveyed 1,325 CEOs worldwide, including 25 in the UAE and 75 in the Middle East.

The survey collected opinions across four themes: economic outlook and geopolitics, ESG, talent and technology.

Key findings include:

• Fifty-six per cent of CEOs in the UAE and 51 per cent in the Middle East expect to see a significant return on their ESG investments within three to five years.
• Fifty-two per cent of UAE leaders consider generative AI a top investment priority.
• CEOs in the Middle East (55 per cent) and worldwide (64 per cent) are also focusing on increasing their organisations’ AI spending.
• Twenty per cent of UAE CEOs said the greatest barrier to achieving Net Zero or similar climate ambitions is the complexity of decarbonising supply chains.
• Twenty-nine per cent of CEOs in the Middle East are more concerned about the lack of appropriate technology solutions to gather and analyse data.
• Eighty per cent of CEOs worldwide anticipate they will be required to balance centralised and devolved strategies in response to political conflict and climate change.
• In the UAE, 52 per cent of CEOs agree.

For more insights, head here.