It’s not all gloom and doom on the business front. A survey of more than 600 Australian CEOs has found a remarkably upbeat mood, with many forecasting higher profits and improved business performance.

The Australian chapter of The Executive Connection (TEC), an international network for CEOs, said although 51.3% of its members believe the Australian economy has entered or is entering a recession, little more than 40% believe their industry is affected.

For brokers bracing for upset clients as a result of premium increases predicted to rise at least 25% in the next round of renewals, there’s a little bad news: 65.4% of the CEOs aren’t expecting their costs to rise over the next year.