Latest global survey indicates economic optimism is on the rise in 2021

The Treasury Coalition, a collaborative group of industry leaders, sponsors a bi-monthly survey of treasurers and financial professionals around the globe. In practice since early 2020, the recurring survey seeks to gain insight into the global economy from the viewpoint of B2B payments practitioners.

This month marks the 18^th set of results since the survey started in March of 2020. These latest results show a shift from the predominantly pessimistic outlook revealed in previous surveys to a more positive one. Improvements were seen in 3 key areas:

• Virus inflection point: one of the topics touched in all 18 survey runs is the point at which respondents expect the economic impact of the virus to start diminishing. That ‘inflection’ point was significantly reduced in the latest poll from 6 months in the 17th survey to under 3 months. This is the shortest timeframe we’ve seen since last summer.
• Accounts payable: another indication that economic outlook is improving can be seen in the number of companies speeding up payments to vendors and suppliers. 9% indicated they were able to make payments faster then previous periods, with only 25% reporting extended payment timelines – down from 41% in June.
• Staffing changes: last period indicated that 33% of companies expected a continued reduction in staff, but that dropped to 27% this period. With 23% of companies expanding staff, up from 17% in December. Nearly 50% of companies reported that their staffing levels will remain the same.

Access the full Period 18 results report here.

For a historical background on the Global Recovery Monitor, read the first article in this series featuring an interview with Craig Jeffery, Executive Director of Strategic Treasurer. Strategic Treasurer spurred the formation of the Treasury Coalition to provide the payments and banking industries a regular and timely snapshot into the effects the pandemic is having on businesses.

How you can help

The Treasury Coalition will continue to offer insight into what’s top-of-mind in the treasury and financial industries during the pandemic, and how practitioners are viewing the recovery timeline.

To be a meaningful resource, the Global Recovery Monitor needs consistent participation from those in the treasury and finance trenches. To add your voice to the results, take the survey here.

Subscribe

For further insights into the payments industry and beyond, subscribe now to SmartPayments.com and stay up-to-date on the latest trends and topics. You can also check out The Payments Podcast, where experts weigh-in on real-time factors impacting the B2B payments industry.