East Asia and the Pacific The global risks of highest concern for doing business in East Asia and the Pacific are mainly economic: energy price shock and asset bubble (Table 4.4). While energy price shock tops the list only in Lao PDR and Indonesia, it is among the top five in 12 countries. Many countries in the region are energy importers and soaring prices could be damaging. The risk of an asset bubble ranks top in seven economies (Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong SAR, Myanmar, New Zealand and Thailand), reflecting the recent equity market turmoil in China and potential spillovers into the other countries from the region as well as over-evaluation of property in some of the economies such as Hong Kong or Sydney. South Asia With four of the countries identifying energy price shock and three economies region’s identifying fiscal crises among their top five, concern for doing business is centred on economic risks (Table 4.5).Unemployment and underemployment is also among the most-cited risks in South Asia, with the whole region facing the challenge of jobless growth and vulnerable and informal employment: vulnerable employment accounted for over three-quarters of all employment in 2014 in South Asia. Youth unemployment is also a concern, especially in South Asia, where the rate is already four times higher than among adults and an additional 2.1 million youth will enter the labour force over the next five years. Latin America and the Caribbean Failure of national governance is a prominent concern across Latin America and the Caribbean, especially in South America, where corruption and mistrust in the of institutions are increasingly compounding the difficulties of running a business (Table 4.6). The weak region’s economic growth prospects and low levels of investment lie behind concerns about failure of critical infrastructure; increasing investment in infrastructure would stimulate the economy as well as strengthen resilience to global risks. Middle East and North Africa
East Asia and the Pacific The global risks of highest concern for doing business in East Asia and the Pacific are mainly economic: energy price shock and asset bubble (Table 4.4). While energy price shock tops the list only in Lao PDR and Indonesia, it is among the top five in 12 countries. Many countries in the region are energy importers and soaring prices could be damaging. The risk of an asset bubble ranks top in seven economies (Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong SAR, Myanmar, New Zealand and Thailand), reflecting the recent equity market turmoil in China and potential spillovers into the other countries from the region as well as over-evaluation of property in some of the economies such as Hong Kong or Sydney. South Asia With four of the region’s countries identifying energy price shock and three economies identifying fiscal crises among their top five, concern for doing business is centred on economic risks (Table 4.5).Unemployment and underemployment is also among the most-cited risks in South Asia, with the whole region facing the challenge of jobless growth and vulnerable and informal employment: vulnerable employment accounted for over three-quarters of all employment in 2014 in South Asia. Youth unemployment is also a concern, especially in South Asia, where the rate is already four times higher than among adults and an additional 2.1 million youth will enter the labour force over the next five years. Latin America and the Caribbean Failure of national governance is a prominent concern across Latin America and the Caribbean, especially in South America, where corruption and mistrust in the of institutions are increasingly compounding the difficulties of running a business (Table 4.6). The region’s weak economic growth prospects and low levels of investment lie behind concerns about failure of critical infrastructure; increasing investment in infrastructure would stimulate the economy as well as strengthen resilience to global risks. Middle East and North Africa
Summary-Report-Global-Risk-2016.docx