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Latin American leads Europe in plans for economic recovery
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Datum nieuwsfeit: 03-11-2009 |
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KPMG
Latin American business leads Europe, but lags behind Asia-Pacific in plans
for economic recovery, finds new KPMG International study
Businesses across Latin America are using the global recession as an
opportunity to review and reshape their operations in preparation for
the upturn. But while they are ahead of companies in Europe, they lag
behind the leading entrepreneurs of the Asia Pacific countries who are
well advanced in their preparations for recovery.
This is the conclusion of "Out of Adversity", a new international
survey by KPMG's Global Tax Practice, which focuses on seven key Latin
American economies.
Covering Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and
Venezuela, the survey asked 165 business executives about their
reactions to the recession, what lessons they have learned from
previous recessions, and what plans they have for recovery.
It also compared their responses with those from business people in
other regions of the world.
A key finding is that Latin American businesses are relatively relaxed
about the impact of recession on their operations, much more so than
Europeans.
Only five percent of Latin American respondents said that they had no
clues from previous recessions on how to deal with this one. This
compared with more than 40 percent of respondents in Germany and
Italy, 24 percent in Spain and 20 percent in Portugal.
Among the Latin American states, the highest score came from Brazil,
where seven percent said there were no lessons from the past that are
relevant, and 13 percent said that every recession is different.
"It seems that in those economies that have been enjoying
unprecedented prosperity for some years, like many of the European
countries and, perhaps, Brazil, some of the lessons of
entrepreneurship and managing through difficult times may need to be
re-learned," said Jose Aldrich, Managing Partner, Iberoamerica Tax
Services. "But in many countries where the memory of difficult
economic times is more recent, the problems we have seen this year are
just part of normal business.
"This is a common view in the Asia-Pacific countries, and it's very
interesting that our Latin American respondents seem to share this
view. They realize that the crisis has had a different impact on them
than it has had on companies in Europe.
"Rather than following a European lead, as they might have done in the
past, they have recognized that they now need to use their own
entrepreneurial talents to face the challenges of this new global
trade environment."
This view is being translated into action. In Latin America overall,
61 percent of respondents said they are making substantial changes to
their short-term strategies, and 59 percent are rethinking their
long-term strategies.
Leading the pack in both long and short term reassessments is Mexico,
with 80 percent making changes in the year ahead, and 76 percent
planning longer term changes.
This puts Mexico alongside India and China in the desire for new ways
of doing business. But they are still behind the world leaders, who
are Japan, where 87 percent are planning radical long-term change, and
Singapore, where the figure is 84 percent.
Next in Latin America for short term changes are Colombia and
Venezuela, followed by Argentina, with between 64 and 65 percent
reporting immediate plans to cut costs.
Many of the companies in these countries reported that they were
focusing on cutting supply chain costs and improving business
efficiency.
The study also asked executives what they wanted their governments to
do to encourage a recovery. The most popular option in Brazil, Mexico,
Chile and Peru was a simple cut in tax rates.
Colombian businesses favored investment in infrastructure, which was
the choice of 25 percent of respondents, while executives in Argentina
urged their government to produce a well thought-out finance plan and
implement a tougher fiscal policy.
Nearly all respondents thought that their governments should play an
active part in working to improve economic conditions, with only four
percent saying that governments have already done enough.
This contrasted strongly with the global results, where nine percent
overall did not want their governments to intervene further, rising to
14 percent in Japan and 36 percent in Singapore.
"Latin American businesses clearly do prefer their governments to act
as partners in business," said Mr Aldrich "and this was confirmed when
we asked them whether they supported international moves to improve
relations between tax authorities and large corporate taxpayers."
KPMG asked these questions last year as well, and the comparison
between the responses for 2009 and those for 2008 tells a clear story.
In 2008, 71 percent of respondents said they would be prepared to be
more open with the tax authorities in exchange for more flexible
regulation.
This year, that has risen to 81 percent, but at the same time, the
proportion of businesses saying that their tax authorities are
unwilling to help them develop their international business has risen
from 48 percent to 56 percent.
"It seems that tax authorities, perhaps under pressure to bring in
tax, have moved away from efforts to improve relationships." Said Mr
Aldrich. "If so, that would be a shame. The desire and the energy for
improved relationships is still there in business, and for governments
willing to build fairer and more effective tax systems, this has to be
an excellent foundation."
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Media enquiries
Jeff Wagland
KPMG Global Tax Marketing and Communications
Tel: +44 7766 241861
E-mail: Jeffrey.Wagland@kpmg.co.uk
Note to editors
This information is taken from a global survey, commissioned by KPMG's
Global Tax Practice in April and May 2009 and updated in September.
The main report of the global survey, called "Never catch a falling
knife", was launched at KPMG's Europe, Middle East and Africa Tax
Summit in June, held in London.
This report, called "Out of Adversity", is drawn from the same survey
and focuses on the seven main Latin American economies, Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. In 165
interviews, researchers asked people from a wide range of businesses
in the region, representing all major sectors, what their experience
of recession has been, what lessons they take from previous recessions
to help deal with this one, and how they plan to take advantage of the
recovery.
"Out of Adversity" was launched at the 2009 IberoAmerica Tax Summit in
Santiago, Chile on November 3-5.
The Summit is a meeting of KPMG member firms' clients, guests and
partners to discuss international business issues with a focus on tax.
It is the latest in a series of Tax Summits. Past events have taken
place in Lisbon, Barcelona, Mexico City, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Sao
Paulo, Singapore and Berlin.
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