Only 36% of CEOs worldwide are 'very confident' of their company's growth prospects in the next 12 months, according to PwC's 16th Annual Global CEO Survey. That's down from 40% who were 'very confident' of short term growth last year and 48% in 2011, but still above the lows of 31% and 21% in 2010 and 2009.

Looking at the economy generally, 28% of CEOs say the global economy will decline further in 2013, and only 18% predict economic improvement; 52% say it will stay the same. While the CEOs' outlook remains gloomy, the forecast is an improvement on last year when 48% of CEOs predicted the global economy would decline in 2012.