Companies missing out on China's new infrastructure initiatives: HSBC
Companies are missing out on capitalising on the Beijing government's new infrastructure initiatives, thereby missing out on potential business opportunities, warns HSBC. In a survey of over 1,600 senior executives across 14 countries, 41% were aware of the business opportunities presented by the Chinese government's "belt and road" plan, but only 7% of them were capitalising on it. The "belt" refers to the overland Silk Road trading routes linking China to Europe and the Middle East, whilst "road" refers to its maritime connections in the south with Africa, India and Southeast Asia. HSBC says the "belt and road" plan will impact trade in 64 nations, home to around two-thirds of the global population.

More and more companies might be using the renminbi (yuan) to do business with China, but few are capitalizing on the government's new infrastructure initiatives and are missing out on potential business opportunities, according to a new survey by HSBC.

Of the 1,600 senior executives across 14 countries asked by the bank's commercial arm, 24 percent confirmed that their business was using the currency, up 7 percent on an equivalent survey last year.

While 41 percent of survey respondents were aware of the business opportunities presented by the Chinese government's "belt and road" strategy, only 7 percent of these were implementing new means of capitalizing on the development.

"Belt and road" is the Chinese government's coinage for the policy and infrastructure framework which it hopes will spur $2.5 trillion of international commerce per annum, a figure Chinese state news agency Xinhua attributes to President Xi Jinping in 2015. Introduced in 2013, "belt and road" is intended to develop two trade corridors between China and the rest of the world.

"Belt" refers to the historic overland Silk Road trading routes linking China to Europe and the Middle East. Meanwhile, "road" refers to the country's maritime connections in its south with Africa, India and Southeast Asia. According to HSBC, the project will impact trade in 65 countries, home to nearly two thirds of the world's population.