A seemingly unrelenting series of political, social and economic shocks have buffeted international markets and the global economy has been on the brink of recession since the pandemic. Businesses are being forced to keep pace with a constantly changing environment or risk falling behind.    

A quarter (25%) of businesses we surveyed rank economic uncertainty as a key risk that they will face next year. The ripple effects of interest rate rises by central banks across the globe are hard to predict and businesses feel exposed to many factors which are entirely outside of their control.

While one in four businesses still view the economic climate with uncertainty however, this is an improvement on 2022 (29%). Given inflation is still rampant in many regions and merger & acquisitions (M&A) and Initial Public Offering (IPO) activity in the leading financial centres is languid at best, despite optimists predicting a more buoyant sector, it would seem a stretch to suggest that firms feel the worst is over. Rather, an increasing degree of turbulence is being built into business modelling and outlooks.