Rising global inflation is one of the major challenges for businesses struggling to recover from the economic downturn, according to the latest Global Economic Conditions survey of finance professionals.
In Singapore, 69.1 percent of 97 accountants surveyed by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) pinpointed inflation as a problem in the first quarter compared to 35.0 percent over the same period last year.
In March 2011, a survey of more than 2,300 accountants revealed that more 51 percent reported problems with increasing operating costs, making it the most cited business challenge. In the fourth quarter of 2010, 31 percent of the respondents reported increasing costs as a problem.
The worst inflation issues were recorded in Malaysia and Singapore.
According to the recent survey, 72.3 percent of the 141 respondents in Malaysia have reported problems with rising operating costs.
While they reported that there were still business opportunities, growing costs made it harder for accountants to find opportunities for both cost-cutting and growth for the businesses they advise.
Mr. Darryl Wee, Country Head at ACCA Singapore, said, “The huge rise in inflation has been the most worrying development to emerge in our latest survey.”
“More than half of the respondents reported problems with rising operating costs, which will hinder their ability to look for new opportunities at the time when businesses desperately need to fill the order books.”
“The number of finance professionals worried about inflation will also be of concern to governments which have a range of measures in place to control rising prices. These measures were designed to ensure that businesses do not fail because they cannot afford the raw materials or expertise.”