(Yicai) Feb. 5 -- More than two-thirds of Chinese chief executive officers expect global economic growth to improve this year, a higher ratio than the global average, highlighting their positive expectations regarding technological innovation, trade rebound, and growth in emerging markets, according to auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Around 67 percent of Chinese CEOs expect global economic growth to expand over the next 12 months, up from 60 percent a year earlier, with 9 percent predicting it will remain unchanged from last year and the rest anticipating a decline, according to PwC's 29th Annual Global CEO Survey China Report released yesterday. For comparison, 61 percent of global CEOs expect an improvement.

This year's Global CEO Survey polled 4,454 business leaders across 95 countries and regions between September and November last year, covering industrial manufacturing, healthcare, consumer goods, energy, private equity, financial services, technology, and other sectors. There were 216 respondents from the Chinese mainland and 54 from Hong Kong.

China achieved its 2025 economic growth target of 5 percent, supported by industrial upgrades and technological innovation, providing businesses with stable expectations, the report said. In addition, as an international financial hub, Hong Kong led the global capital market financing scale, with its deepening collaboration with the mainland in tech innovation and services further strengthening business confidence.

Artificial intelligence is one of the most representative tech innovations, with 52 percent of Chinese CEOs reporting revenue growth through the application of AI tools, significantly higher than the global average of 29 percent. About 17 percent of Chinese respondents indicated that AI has led to both income increase and cost reduction, compared to 12 percent worldwide.

In addition, 39 percent of Chinese CEOs said they have not yet realized any financial benefits from their investments in AI, while the figure stood at 56 percent globally.

While Chinese CEOs remain optimistic about global economic growth, the attractiveness of the domestic market for their international counterparts continues to rise, with the percentage of those who ranked the mainland among their top three investment destinations rising to 11 percent this year from 9 percent in last year's survey.

CEOs from Indonesia and South Korea with 26 percent, Germany with 24 percent, and Japan and Switzerland with 22 percent, had the highest investment intent in China, according to the report.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev