PwC’s COVID-19 CFO Pulse Survey

As most countries across the Middle East are considering their reopening strategies, customer and employee safety is of the utmost importance. Confidence levels in abilities to meet customer safety expectations and provide a safe working environment rank first and second for Middle East CFOs.

As key tactical steps needed for a successful reopening, it is likely that more thought will have been given to these immediate requirements, perhaps positively impacting CFO confidence. Regional CFOs seem less confident about their ability to identify new revenue opportunities, so this and balancing the needs of all stakeholders will need further focus and attention as companies respond to the new normal (fig. 1).

Organisations are increasingly focused on what measures they must take to safely implement a phased return to onsite work. With the UAE Government recently announcing their reopening, we see 85% of UAE CFOs placing a greater importance on workplace safety measures such as wearing masks and testing. However, as a region, the Middle East seems less likely than its global counterparts to reconfigure work sites to promote physical distancing but in the UAE this seems more likely.

While the reopening of economies will be welcomed by organisations, there is no doubt that COVID-19 will leave behind some economic scarring. We now see that 33% of Middle East CFOs are more likely to reduce their real-estate footprint through the partial opening of offices or retail locations, 10% higher than the global average (fig. 2). This expected reduction may be linked to the decrease in workforce as seen later in our report.

Consistent with the global average, 86% of Middle East CFOs are expecting to see a decrease in both revenue and profits. When we look a little closer, we see that 70% of Middle East CFOs are expecting to see a decrease of 10% or more. Interestingly, we see further pessimism in the region with nearly 1 in 5 Middle East CFOs expecting to see a decrease in revenue or profits of over 50% (fig. 8).

As companies begin to accept the new normal they are now operating in, the expected timeline to return to business as usual seems to have grown. All territories are seeing timelines lengthen for when they believe organisations will return to business as usual. 

Interestingly, we have seen the greatest increase from the Middle East territory, and over the last four weeks the proportion of CFOs expecting the recovery to take three months or more has grown significantly from 44% to 66%. Whereas across the globe, the increase has been much less severe growing from 45% to 57% (fig. 9).

Despite the severity of the global situation and the need for organisations to protect themselves, community spirit remains strong – with action being taken to support others too. Across the Middle East, 38% of CFOs have increased their company’s community-focused efforts and other social activities in response to COVID-19, such as contributions to nonprofits, pro bono goods and services or programmes to support vulnerable groups. With an additional 37% of Middle East CFOs not changing their community focused activities, three quarters of all CFOs in the region are providing some level of support to those in need (fig. 13).

With us being in the middle of the Holy month of Ramadan, this degree of charity and selflessness is to be expected, but it is reassuring to see that this mentality remains, despite the challenging circumstances we find ourselves in today.