May 2017 Financial News

Jamaica ranks as second riskiest country in the Caribbean to do business — study. Haiti ranks as riskiest in World

May 12, 2017

Jamaica has been ranked as one the riskiest countries in the world to do business with, according to a new study published by property insurance group FM Global.FM Global Resilience Index, which equally weighs composite measure of three core resilience factors: economic, risk quality and the supply chain — including cyber attacks, natural hazards and supply chain failure — ranked Jamaica at 117 of 130 countries.

The index is based on data provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Economic Forum and the World Bank.

The country, which scored 19 marks by FM Global standards, had an overall economic rank of 124 of the list of countries; consisting of scores of six for productivity, 65.4 for political risk, 19.3 for oil intensity, and 65.6 for urbanisation rate.

The scores resulted in Jamaica being ranked the second most risky country to invest in the Caribbean, after Haiti which was at the lowest position overall on the list of 130 countries.

Jamaica was ranked just below the African republics of Guinea at 116 and Cameroon at 115, and one position ahead of Iran — ranked at 118 of the 130 countries.

“With all three factors (economic, supply chain, risk quality) repeatedly ranking poorly, Haiti finds itself at the lowest position overall on the list of 130 countries. Specific drivers – natural hazard exposures, local standards, corruption, among others — serve to push the overall ranking downward. Haiti ranks 38 for inherent cyber risk (which improves the risk quality rank to 124 out of 130), which is a reflection of low internet penetration within the country,” FM Global stated in its report.

The French-speaking Caribbean country's rank of 130 has been attributed to the deaths of more than 1,000 people when Hurricane Matthew struck a section of the country last October.

Panama was ranked as having the lowest risk across the Caribbean at position 58, followed by Costa Rica at 59, Trinidad and Tobago at 61, and the Dominican Republic at 96.

Switzerland, which occupied the FM Global top spot for the past five years, was followed by Luxembourg. According to FM Global, Luxembourg has shown steady improvement, moving from number 8 in 2013 to number 2 in 2017.

“Interestingly, with all drivers (except improvement in urbanisation rate) remaining consistent over five years, the data show that — in a composite relative index such as this — Luxembourg's improvement is as influenced by gradual decreases in rankings of other countries as any notable improvements within the Grand Duchy,” it said.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia emerged as a country with above-average inherent cyber risk. Developing India, by contrast, with its growing information technology industry, emerged as a country with below-average inherent cyber risk.

Sweden was ranked as having above-average resilience to natural disasters due, in part, to its lower-than-average exposure to hazards such as windstorms, flood and earthquakes.

On the other hand, flood-prone Bangladesh, a major manufacturing hub for apparel and textiles, ranks close to the bottom of the index.

Germany was also ranked as having top resilience to supply chain failure, while Russia ranked on the opposite end.

The annual index, which is online and interactive, is comprised of four core drivers with scores on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 representing the lowest resilience and 100 being the highest resilience. Now in its fourth year, the index provides a unique resource to help business executives site facilities, select suppliers, evaluate established supply chains, and identify customers who may be vulnerable.

Source:
By Karena Bennett
Jamaica Observer
Friday May 12, 2017

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-report/jamaica-ranks-as-second-riskiest-country-in-the-caribbean-to-do-business-8212-study-haiti-ranks-as-riskiest-in-world_98592?profile=1056