Aruanded

Malaysia’s business environment is considered to be far more favourable than that of its regional neighbours, apart from Singapore, and the financial sector is strong.

As in 2013 and 2014, fierce competition means that the Dutch construction sector is still affected by price wars, leading to on-going pressure on margins.

The swift implementation of reforms would further strengthen Mexico ́s already solid external economic situation by boosting FDI and reducing dependency on volatile portfolio capital inflows.

India’s rebound is expected to be driven by the resumption of stalled infrastructure projects, high investment, urbanisation, the improvement of the business environment and structural reforms.

Although economic growth is slowing, the business environment is generally stable. The challenge for the Chinese authorities is to implement reforms to reduce the vulnerabilities in the economy.

Despite several bans which affected the Polish food sector negatively, this has performed quite well, mainly because of the rising domestic consumption.

Payments in the Danish food sector remained unchanged and are, on average, 30 days.

The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of food and agricultural products. The weakening of the euro gave a boost to further export growth.

The German food sector has continued to grow in the first half of 2014. Domestically, there is increased competition caused by large retailers and discounters’ dominating market share.

The French food sector has benefited from falling raw material prices and a weaker euro, which helps boost competitiveness abroad.

Without structural reforms to raise savings, reduce dependency on energy imports and improve the investment climate, Turkey ́s potential growth rate will likely decrease to 3% - 3.5% per annum.

Concerns that credit quality could be deteriorating in several countries in Asia Pacific are growing.

When Taiwanese respondents were asked about the main challenges to their business profitability this year, 43.5% answered that maintaining adequate cash flow was the most critical factor.

The main challenge to profitability cited by our survey respondents in Singapore was “maintaining adequate cash flow”, at 31.7%.

43.8% of Japanese respondents said that the biggest challenge to business profitability was falling demand for their products and services, the highest percentage of all Asia Pacific nations surveyed.

Indonesian respondents said that 37.1% of overdue receivables were paid within 30 days, slightly above average for the region.

Indian respondents were aligned with their peers in Asia Pacific in citing “maintaining adequate cash flow” as their biggest challenge.

Respondents in Hong Kong indicated that their biggest challenge to profitability this year would be maintaining adequate cash flow, with 37.4% stating this to be the case.

When questioned about the biggest challenges to their business profitability this year, 36.2% of Australians responded that maintaining adequate cash flow was their key challenge.

The German automotive sector has benefited increasing domestic production as well as a growing share of car production overseas.