What risks does the world face in 2016? The World Economic Forum assesses these it its latest publication ahead of its annual conference in Davos, Switzerland. And the assessment is bleak. The annual report analyses the perceived impact and likelihood of 29 rampant global risks over a 10 year period conducted through a survey of 1,000 important leaders in the fields of business, government, and academia, non-government and international organisations.
While there is a wide array of fields that should worry about the risks highlighted in the report, the survey also delves into the risks imminent for the business world. The risks of highest concern for doing business differ considerably from country to country. However, some patterns are also seen within the regions as well as globally. And the identification of both is the key to building resilience to these risks.
On the global scale, the top two risks to doing business identified through the survey are the unemployment and the energy price shocks. These risks are prevalent in more than half of the 140 economies under study. The other important risks that scare the business world include the failure of national governance, fiscal crises, and cyber-attacks.
On a regional basis, Europe must fight the risks of fiscal crises, unemployment, asset bubbles and energy prices. Similarly, United State should be looking to build resilience in areas of cyber-attacks. The respondents from Central Asia and Russia fear about fiscal crises and unemployment, along with the risks of unmanageable inflation and interstate conflicts, while leaders from East Asia and the Pacific have qualms about environment, energy prices, asset bubbles, and cyber-attacks. In South Asia, the key concerns for 2016 onwards would revolve around failure of national governance, energy prices, fiscal crises, and unemployment.
The focus for those at the helm in Middle East and African countries should be dealing with energy prices, together with unemployment, terrorist attacks and interstate conflict, failure of national governance and the failure of critical infrastructure.
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GLOBAL RISKS FOR BUSINESS IN 2016
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1. Unemployment/Underemployment
2. Energy Price Shock
3. Fiscal Crisis
4. Failure of National Governance
5. Social Stability
6. Failure of Financial Institution
7. Failure of Infrastructure
8. Inflation
9. Interstate Conflicts
10. Cyber Attack
11. Failed Urban Planning
12. Terrorism
13. Water Crisis
14. Extreme Climate
15. Involuntary Migration
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Source: The Global Risk Report 2016 - WEF
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