World’s largest firms remain cautious

MANILA, Philippines — The world’s largest companies remain concerned over global economic prospects in the near term despite improvements in sentiment over the past month, according to an international think tank.

In a recent research brief, UK-based Oxford Economics said its Global Risk Survey for the first quarter of the year showed almost half of its respondents expect activity in their businesses to remain below pre-pandemic levels throughout 2021.

“Businesses appear especially cautious about the implications of new, more transmissible forms of coronavirus for the effectiveness of mass vaccinations,” said the think tank.

The first quarter survey was completed by 204 businesses from January 18 up to 29. These include some of the world’s largest companies. Together, all the participating companies employ around six million.

The first quarter survey was conducted amid mixed developments.

COVID-19 vaccinations have begun in advanced economies, but the pace has been slow. At the same time, more transmissible variants of the virus have spread to many economies around the world.

Against this backdrop, majority of the respondents said they view risks as slightly to the downside (45 percent, up from 33 percent in December) or heavily to the downside (eight percent, up from five percent).

Less than a third of businesses (28 percent) see risks as balanced.

Most businesses expect a reasonably strong outcome for the global economy this year after last year’s slump, the same as in the December survey.