New business opportunities reside in new economic fields of B&R countries, PwC
Apart from traditional infrastructure industry, new economic fields in countries along the Belt and Road (B&R), such as consumption and medical treatment, also boast investment value, according to Frank Lyn, China and Hong Kong markets leader of the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) at the 2017 Boao Forum for Entrepreneurs on December 12 .
PwC is a professional service agency covering 158 countries and regions across the world. Except for auditing, accounting and taxation, it is also engaged in M&A and management consultation. By far, it has provided services for 37 projects in 21 countries along the B&R.
"In general perspective, investment in countries along the B&R mainly concentrates on infrastructure. However, we believe that huge opportunities also lie in new economic fields, such as consumption and medical treatment," said Lyn.
With constant growth of the population in countries along the B&R, national income has kept rising, which gives rise to increasing demands for telecommunication, logistics, retail and medical treatment. Hence, those industries will become hot spots for future investment, said Lyn.
Investors should conduct preliminary studies on targeted countries at first and then make primary judgment on investment, M&A, and management based on their own risk tolerance capability. After that, investors need to analyze geopolitics, economic environment, social culture and other systematic risks of targeted countries. Besides, investors need to grasp the trends of local investment supervision, tariff policies, exchange rate fluctuations, economic policies and industrial policies, said Lyn.
"Enterprises should be far-sighted if intending to invest in B&R countries. They should pay close attention to core capacity building including project development capability, low-cost financing capability, project construction and management capacity, operation capability and comprehensive risk control capability," said Lyn.
