American CEOs view national debt as top geopolitical risk in 2024: Survey

American CEOs said in a new survey that the country’s ballooning national debt is the geopolitical risk that concerns them most for business operations this year, ahead of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The potential for an increase in cyberattacks was their next highest geopolitical concern, according to The Conference Board’s C-Suite Outlook 2024, a survey of CEOs and C-Suite executives.  

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and rising concerns that it could expand into a larger regional conflict, war in the Middle East was the third biggest geopolitical worry for American CEOs, followed by higher energy prices and war in Ukraine, the survey found.

Heightened concern over the U.S. national debt comes as the debt pile marked a new milestone at the end of last year, surpassing $34 trillion for the first time on Dec. 29. 

Of the external factors that CEOs and C-suite executives believe will have the biggest impact on their businesses this year, an economic downturn or recession tops the list for business leaders in the U.S. and around the world, followed by inflation.

However, just 37 percent of American CEOs and 27 percent of global CEOs said they are prepared to deal with a recession, the survey found.

While concerns about inflation and the state of the economy remain, financial markets appear fairly confident in the U.S. that the economy has achieved a soft landing, as inflation has eased without triggering the recession that many economists previously expected.

After a surprisingly strong December jobs report on Friday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen agreed with these assessments, saying that “what we’re seeing now I think we can describe as a soft landing.”

The Conference Board surveyed 1,247 C-Suite executives, including 630 CEOs, in October and November for C-Suite Outlook 2024.