PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) CEO Ramon Laguarta is brushing aside economists’ predictions of a coming global recession and voiced his optimism for the next 12 months.
In an interview on CNBC during last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Laguarta insisted that a “negative” macroeconomic focus is missing a bigger picture.
“The macro debate seems to be a bit more negative than micro debate,” he said. “When I talk to a lot of my colleagues they are surprised that they’re doing better than they thought. This is the case for many people in developing and developed markets. There is going to be a difficult 2023, with a lot of unexpected things; that’s something we’ve learned in the last few years. We need to be prepared for the unexpected. But I’m seeing more optimism than I had before coming to Davos.”
Laguarta added there was “very little unemployment when you look around the world. That to me is very positive. We’re having good harvests across the world that will have a positive impact in the economy. We’re seeing China opening and that’s a positive as well. I think we’re starting the year with some kind of degrees of grey but I’m seeing optimism in a lot of the people I’m talking to.”
Laguarta acknowledged there were still supply chain bottlenecks, but he also insisted commodity costs were coming down, which he said was another sign of a strengthening market. He predicted that low unemployment rates coupled with how consumers are “strategizing around their budget” will play in the Purchase-based company’s favor.
“Those are realities that we’re seeing in our categories but they continue to be resilient,” he said. “We’re seeing growth in our categories, and consumers that engage with our brands.”
