Mostly bad news
While China’s economy will grow by 1.3%, most others including major European and the U.S. see contraction much deeper than 6%.
Sambhavy Shrestha, economist, Emerging Market Innovation (EMI) Practice at Frost & Sullivan commented that businesses need to adapt to long-term shifts in consumer spending patterns and workforce transformation.
“With the larger economy expected to remain contracted throughout 2020 and growth recovery to pre-crisis levels expected only in 2022. Export-oriented economies will face a severe decrease in demand and consequent reduction in government revenues, even after signs of global economic revival,” he added.
A little good news
The global economy will most likely begin to recover from the impact of the pandemic by 2021, boosted by hefty stimulus packages and stringent fiscal measures.
Efforts by governments of affected nations, such as lowered interest rates and extended loan moratoriums, are expected to help beleaguered industries find a footing during these tumultuous times.
“The global economy has already witnessed shallow V-shaped recovery from most historical health shocks such as SARS and MERS,” said Shrestha.
Telehealth and similar minimum-contact services are well-positioned to grow in 2020, given the increased demand and government incentives for such industries.
The price of recovery
“While a wide V-shaped recovery from the COVID-19 crisis is expected, the delayed revival of global consumer demand will deter quick recovery of business sentiments and unemployment rates. As early signs of recovery in the global economy emerged by the end of Q2 2020 with easing lockdowns, historically high levels of government spending will remain pivotal for faster recovery,”
For further revenue opportunities, global businesses and industries should:
- Relocate production from China to other emerging market alternatives such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia to leverage government incentives and other strategic advantages.
- Look for cross-industry M&A opportunities within the private sector and increase public-private partnerships to meet the vast unmet demand gap for technologically advanced solutions to transition to the new normal.
- Offer diversified and customized price plans for their services and products that fit the needs of consumers of varying economic strata as opposed to standardized options.
- Leverage the historically low-interest rates on credits to increase investments and optimize government tax incentives to invest in new product development and supply chain realignment.
