Brasília – Latin American enterprises are the world’s most optimistic regarding how the economy will behave in 2011. The conclusion was reached by the Grant Thornton International accounting firm. According to the survey, the net optimism rate among Latin American businessmen is 75%, on a scale from -100% (total pessimism) to 100% (total optimism).
Chilean companies are the most optimistic about the economy in 2011, with a net score of 95%. Brazil ranks fifth among the 39 countries surveyed, and has the second highest optimism score among Latin American countries (79%). Besides Chile and Brazil, the survey shows strong optimism among Argentinean companies (70%, 10th in the ranking) and Mexican companies (64%, 14th in the ranking).
The CEO of Grant Thornton International, Ed Nusbaum, stated that the success of Brazilian economy had a strong impact in the region, as the optimism has spread to its neighbouring countries. The optimism of Brazilian companies is at its highest level ever since the country was first included in the survey, in 2007, when the score was 47%. Last year, Brazilian companies scored 71% in optimism.
“Also, one cannot take for granted the domino effects that spread throughout the region since Brazil was announced as the host of the FIFA World Cup 2014 and the 2016 Olympic Games. These events will boost the economy of all of Latin America, and the announcement has surely brought about a feeling of confidence and optimism,” he said.
Companies in Asia and the Pacific (Japan not included), which were the most optimistic according to Grant Thornton’s annual survey of last year, rank second this year, with a score of 50%.
The lower score is explained by reduced optimism in countries such as China (from 60% to 42%), Australia (from 79% to 37%) and New Zealand (from 66% to 35%). Japanese companies had the highest rate of pessimism among the countries surveyed (-71%). The score of the Asia-Pacific region has dropped to 5%, lower than North America (26%) and Europe (22%).
Considering the BRIC countries, which comprise Brazil, Russia, India and China, the optimism score among companies has dropped from 60% to 54% last year, contrasting with the increase seen among Eurozone countries, from 2% to 22%.
To Nusbaum, over the last few years, the BRICs have been on the spotlight among emerging economies, but the survey shows that Latin America as a whole is on a good track as well. “If the current confidence of companies translates into generalized, sustained growth, then the next decade may see Latin America fulfil its potential. While the economic history of the last decade was about the BRICs, these results suggest that the next decade will be about Latin America,” he claimed.
Out of the ten most pessimistic countries, eight are European. Besides Japan, the most pessimistic in the list, only the United States, with a score of 23%, is among the last ten countries in the ranking, at 31st. The ranking of worst-performing countries include Spain (-50%), Ireland (-45%) and Greece (-44%), which are experiencing serious economic and confidence crises, and which rank directly above Japan in the lower portion of the ranking, followed by Britain (8%), France (10%), Italy (13%) and the Netherlands (19%).
In the list of most optimistic countries, Chile is followed by India (93%), the Philippines (87%) and Switzerland (85%). Grant Thornton has surveyed 5,700 CEOs and directors at medium and large companies in the 39 countries covered, in November and December last year.
*With information from BBC Brazil. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
