The top business risks of 2019

Market Insights October 01, 2019 at 11:11 AM
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A new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), in partnership with Zurich Insurance Group and Marsh & McLennan Companies, spotlights the risks that are top-of-mind for world business leaders. WEF's "Regional Risks for Doing Business 2019" report highlights the results from a survey of nearly 13,000 business leaders in more than 130 countries who were asked to select from a list of 30 global risks the five risks they believe to be of most concern for doing business in their country within the next 10 years. Globally, three of the top five risks are economic-related, with "fiscal crisis" being the leading risk to doing business on a global scale, according to the report. The third and fourth top risks globally, "unemployment or underemployment" and "energy price shock," respectively, are strongly linked to social disruption, which contributes to the fifth top risk, "failure of national governance." "At a time when global economic growth appears fragile, business leaders are deeply concerned by their governments' fiscal resilience. Meanwhile, cyber threats remain a major risk due to their rapid evolution and increasingly disruptive potential," Emilio Granados-Franco, head of global risks and geopolitical agenda at the World Economic Forum, said in a release. "But in examining risk at the regional level, we also see various, interconnected drivers shaping diverse risks landscapes. Only by addressing economic risks and societal, technological, and environmental risks in an integrated manner, can stakeholders truly build resiliency." For North American and European business leaders, cyberattacks was selected as their biggest challenge for the second consecutive year. Businesses in South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific identified environmental-related risks as their top concern, having suffered from recent natural catastrophes. Latin America, Eurasia, and the Caribbean ranked social challenges as their regions' main business risk, while the Middle East and North Africa acknowledged "energy price shock" as theirs.

Top business risks by region  (Source: World Economic Forum, Regional Risks for Doing Business 2019)
RegionRisk #1Risk #2Risk #3Risk #4Risk #5
East Asia and the PacificNatural catastropheCyber attacksInter-state conflictFiscal crisesExtreme weather events
EurasiaProfound social instabilityInter-state conflictEnergy price shockFiscal crisesUnmanageable inflation
EuropeCyber-attacksAsset bubbleInter-state conflictEnergy price shockFiscal crises
Latin America and the CaribbeanFailure of national governanceProfound social instabilityUnemployment or underemploymentFiscal crisesFailure of critical infrastructure
Middle East and North AfricaEnergy price shockFiscal crisesUnemployment or underemploymentUnmanageable inflationAsset bubble
North AmericaCyber attacksData fraud or theftTerrorist attacksCritical information infrastructure breakdownFailure of critical infrastructure
South AsiaWater crisesTerrorist attacksManmade environmental catastrophesFailure of urban planningEnergy price shock
Sub-Saharan AfricaUnemployment or underemploymentFailure of national governanceFailure of critical infrastructureEnergy price shockFiscal crises