Battered by recession, CEO's confidence about future prospects for business has plummeted and they expect only a slow, gradual recovery over the next three years, according to an annual survey released on Wednesday.

Worldwide, just 21 percent of CEO's said they were very confident of revenue growth in the next 12 months, down from 50 percent in last year's survey, said the 12th Annual global CEO Survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The survey, released by the British accounting firm at the 2009 World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, said more than a quarter of business CEOs were pessimistic about prospects for the coming year.

CEOs worldwide were also gloomier about longer term growth as well, predicting a slow recovery, said the survey, which was based on interviews with 1,124 CEOs in 50 countries during the last quarter of 2008.

Only 34 percent of CEOs said they were very confident of growth over the next three years, down from 42 percent last year, when CEOs were just beginning to recognize the full impact of the credit crisis on the global economy.

"The speed and intensity of the recession has rocked the psyches of CEOs and created a global crisis of confidence," said PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global CEO Samual DiPiazza, Jr..

"CEOs are most concerned about the immediate survival of their companies. Even in once rapidly emerging economies, companies are now coping with issues like unavailable credit, sluggish capital markets, and collapsing demand," he said.

The impact of the recession in the world's major economies, cited by 85 percent of survey respondents worldwide, continued to dominate concerns of CEOs and was the only risk factor to increase among CEO's concerns, the survey said.

Other major risk factors included disruption in the capital markets, cited by 72 percent, over-regulation, 55 percent, energy costs, 50 percent, and availability of key talent, 46 percent, it added.

(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2009)