Publications

While the market is still growing, increasing costs for construction materials and transport weigh on the performance of construction businesses.

Smaller contractors continue to suffer from tight cash flow and deteriorating margins due to a lack of projects and higher labour and rental costs.

Construction is expected to have high growth rates over the next five years, mainly due to large infrastructure projects driven by the government.

Canada's GDP growth is forecast to slow down to about 2% in 2018, due to a slowdown in private consumption and government spending.

Costa Rica’s GDP growth is expected to accelerate driven by private consumption, robust private, public and foreign investment, and further export growth.

Mexico seems to be quite resilient in dealing with the uncertainty brought by the NAFTA renegotiations due to its strong economic fundamentals.

Panama´s economy is small, very open, highly diversified, fully dollarized and highly competitive by regional standards. However, challenges remain.

The US administration´s trade policy remains a downside risk, not just for trading partners, but also for the US economy itself.

The economic recovery in emerging market economies is expected to continue strengthening in 2018 and these markets could present opportunities for business.

Due tot the inability to absorb higher input costs and increased pressure on margins, both payment delays and insolvencies have increased in 2017.

The outlook for the Brazilian food sector is benign, due to an ongoing economic rebound and robust demand from China as largest food export market.

Commodity price increases have added pressure on many food manufacturers, stuck between farmers demanding higher prices and powerful retail chains.

Average payment duration in the food sector is 40 days, and the amount of payment delays and insolvencies remains low compared to other Dutch industries.

As food processors and retailers demand longer payment terms from their suppliers, a wave of longer payment terms is being created along the supply chain.

The outlook for food exports remains positive, with further demand growth from overseas expected, due to the strong reputation of “Made in Italy” food.

Key challenges for food retailers are the increasingly competitive market environment and the very high wage pressure, which is diminishing profit margins.

A hard Brexit remains a major threat to the Irish food sector, despite ongoing efforts of food exporters to diversify shipments away from Britain.

The recent profit margin increase is expected to bottom out in the coming months due to a slowdown in inflation and increasing competition in food retail.

The average payment duration in the food industry is 60 days, and the number of payment delays remained low in 2017, with no increase expected in 2018.

Global economic momentum, which began picking up in H2 of 2016, has solidified through the year. However, now is not a time for complacency.