A new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), in partnership with Zurich Insurance Group and Marsh & McLennan Companies, spotlights the risks that are top-of-mind for world business leaders. WEF's "Regional Risks for Doing Business 2019" report highlights the results from a survey of nearly 13,000 business leaders in more than 130 countries who were asked to select from a list of 30 global risks the five risks they believe to be of most concern for doing business in their country within the next 10 years. Globally, three of the top five risks are economic-related, with "fiscal crisis" being the leading risk to doing business on a global scale, according to the report. The third and fourth top risks globally, "unemployment or underemployment" and "energy price shock," respectively, are strongly linked to social disruption, which contributes to the fifth top risk, "failure of national governance." "At a time when global economic growth appears fragile, business leaders are deeply concerned by their governments' fiscal resilience. Meanwhile, cyber threats remain a major risk due to their rapid evolution and increasingly disruptive potential," Emilio Granados-Franco, head of global risks and geopolitical agenda at the World Economic Forum, said in a release. "But in examining risk at the regional level, we also see various, interconnected drivers shaping diverse risks landscapes. Only by addressing economic risks and societal, technological, and environmental risks in an integrated manner, can stakeholders truly build resiliency." For North American and European business leaders, cyberattacks was selected as their biggest challenge for the second consecutive year. Businesses in South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific identified environmental-related risks as their top concern, having suffered from recent natural catastrophes. Latin America, Eurasia, and the Caribbean ranked social challenges as their regions' main business risk, while the Middle East and North Africa acknowledged "energy price shock" as theirs.

                                For more advanced economies, cyberattacks are the risk that's most concerning to business leaders, especially as societies grow more technology-dependent, said John Drzik, president of global risk and digital at Marsh, in a statement. "Combined with fractious geopolitical developments, and growing economic concerns, executives face a very challenging portfolio of potential threats. Business leaders should reevaluate their underlying view of the global risk environment and make greater efforts to strengthen their corporate agility and resilience," he continued. According to Eugenie Molyneux, chief risk officer, commercial insurance at Zurich Insurance Group, businesses around the globe are facing an existential threat, as three top risks pose a serious risk to organizational operations worldwide — and business leaders need to be more aware. "Executives are concerned that governments have too much debt to be able to afford measures that could help avoid a recession and see cyberattacks as the number one risk in 16 economies representing over 40% of the world's GDP. At the same time, businesses are not even factoring in the impact of climate change over the next decade. These three risks need urgent action," she said in a release. To view the full report, visit the World Economic Forum's website. Related: |

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