CATEGORY: OBG CEO Surveys
The launch of the Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) was one of the most anticipated events among frontier market investors in 2015, and according to an Oxford Business Group survey of C-suite executives in the country, many companies are now mulling the possibility of an IPO. However, of the 26% with firmer plans to list, close to half are looking at a five-year horizon. As such, nearer-term expansion is likely to be financed through a mix of internal funding and bank credit. With companies nonetheless preparing for growth, substantial hiring is under way, along with accompanying wage hikes to attract and retain top staff.
The fall in oil and gas prices has been longer and more pronounced than what nearly all experts anticipated when the decline started in mid-2014. This has had significant impacts on all hydrocarbons-rich countries around the world, and Trinidad and Tobago is no exception. Having over a century of experience in producing oil, however, T&T has ridden out and recovered from the ups and downs of this industry, coming out stronger each time.
In late 2015 T&T’s newly elected government inherited an economy sliding into recession as a consequence of lower global energy prices. In response, the Keith Rowley administration has moved towards a policy of fiscal discipline, with further austerity measures expected under the forthcoming 2017 budget. In spite these challenges, after surveying business leaders across all sectors of T&T’s economy, Oxford Business Group found indications that many companies are in fact taking advantage of this period of slower growth to assess their operations and prepare for future expansion ...