MEDIA RELEASE PR39121
Emerging Markets Lead the Way to Economic Recovery
SINGAPORE, Apr. 13 /PRNewswire-Asia-AsiaNet/ --
The Grant Thornton emerging markets opportunity index ranks the level of opportunity for
investors in 27 emerging economies across the globe.
The future looks bright for emerging economies according to the Grant Thornton
International Business Report 2010. A balance of +57% of privately held businesses (PHBs) in
14 of the world's leading emerging markets indicated that they were optimistic about the
prospects for their country's economy in the year ahead. At the same time, a balance of just
+2 per cent of businesses in mature economies indicated that they were optimistic. These
figures compare with a global average of +24 per cent.
At an individual country level, emerging economies occupy four of the top five places in
terms of optimism for the year ahead. Chile (+85% per cent), India (+84 per cent), Vietnam
(+72 per cent) and Brazil (+71 per cent) are only separated by Australia (+79 per cent). Of the
other emerging economies, Botswana, mainland China, South Africa, Malaysia and Poland all
boast optimism balances of more than 40 per cent.
In the Grant Thornton emerging markets opportunity index the top five countries this year
remain the same as in the 2008. China leads the way thanks to its huge consumer market,
increasingly open economy and trade growth, followed by the other developing Asian
powerhouse, India. Russia, thanks to its wealth of natural resources, is third, followed by the
two largest economies in Latin America - Mexico and Brazil.
Says Alex MacBeath, global leader - markets for Grant Thornton International, "The
importance of the emerging markets to the world economy has been brought into sharper
focus as the world emerges from recession. Not only have these economies been less
severely hit, but they are also recovering more quickly, with growth rates over the next two
years forecast to be double that of more mature economies."
However, the survey also reports that businesses in emerging markets fear their growth
prospects are being hampered by poor access to finance and a lack of highly-skilled workers
to a much larger extent than their counterparts in more mature economies.
Says Alex MacBeath, "The opportunity for investors from both mature and emerging
markets to feed off this optimism and help these businesses to overcome the barriers they
face regarding expansion are enormous. Indeed, these markets and their businesses are
developing so rapidly and powerfully that ignoring them could represent a risk to long term
profitability."
About the Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR)
Grant Thornton IBR surveyed a sample of over 7,400 chief executive officers, managing
directors, chairmen or other senior executives in medium to large PHBs across 36 economies.
The sample was randomly selected by number of employees or revenue of the businesses. A
minimum sample size of 100 per country was surveyed in order to guarantee statistical
reliability, although this number was higher in larger economies. The survey was
commissioned by Grant Thornton International and conducted by an independent market
research agency, Experian Business Strategies. Further details about the IBR methodology
About the Grant Thornton emerging markets opportunity index
The Grant Thornton emerging markets opportunity index ranks the level of opportunity for
investors in 27 emerging economies across the globe. Taking account of key factors such as
size, wealth, involvement in world trade, growth potential and levels of human development, it
highlights these markets as investment prospects with their large, rapidly expanding and
increasingly affluent economies.
Contact:
Dato' Narendra Jasani
SJ Grant Thornton
Tel: +60-3-2692-4022
Email: jasani@gt.com.my
Aw Eng Hai
Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton
Tel: +65-6303-9500
Email: enghai.aw@grantthornton.com.sg
Christine Hobart
Grant Thornton
Tel: +44-207-391-9548
way-to-recovery-in-2010
SOURCE Grant Thornton
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